Viral Facebook post in multiple South Asian languages falsely claims that Russian hackers now have access to the “exact GPS coordinates, sleep status, and more” of people vaccinated against COVID-19.

“Russian hackers have found a database showing information on people who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus have chips, exact GPS coordinates, sleep status, and more,” claims a viral Facebook post that has been circulating in multiple South Asian languages, including Thai, Japanese and Chinese.

The social media post further claims that “People will now become transmitters and send all their information back to the AI receiver”. The conspiracy theory has been supported by online portals, such as this one.

Last year, First Check had debunked similar misleading claims concerning coronavirus and 5G networks. Johns Hopkins University has also clearly stated that mRNA vaccines do not contain any kind of implants, microchips, or tracking devices.

As far as the latest conspiracy theory is concerned, there is no evidence to support the claims regarding Sputnik vaccine data being hacked. Dark net alone cannot be considered as a reliable source of information.

There’s adequate scientific evidence to prove that the lipid nanoparticles in mRNA vaccines – that have been a cause of misinformation – do not contain any microchips; their job is to protect and transport the vaccine component.

According to CDC report, “Researchers have been studying and working with mRNA vaccines for decades. Interest has grown in these vaccines because they can be developed in a laboratory using readily available materials. This means the process can be standardized and scaled up, making vaccine development faster than traditional methods of making vaccines.”

Trust facts supported by evidence; stop the spread of conspiracy theories.