[imagesource: Twitter / @Tylerjoelb]
Whilst it’s amusing to chuckle at this sort of nonsense, it’s also a reminder of how insidious misinformation spreads, even among those who really should know better.
You would expect a registered nurse like Joanna Overholt to dismiss the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 vaccines make people magnetic, but instead, she chose to testify before the Ohio House health committee.
Overholt stood up, said she had heard during lunch that vaccines cause magnetism in humans, and then attempted to prove that point using her own body.
Suffice to say that didn’t go very well:
Wow. An anti-vaccine nurse in Ohio tried to prove the Vaccines Cause Magnetism theory in an state legislative committee. The demonstration did not go to plan pic.twitter.com/0ubELst4E8
— Tyler Buchanan (@Tylerjoelb) June 9, 2021
Could somebody explain this? I’m no scientist, but I have heard of this thing called ‘gravity’.
In that video above, Overholt refers to Doctor Tenpenny. That would be Ohio physician Sherri Tenpenny, who testified earlier in the hearing and raised the false vaccine magnetism theory.
She has been identified as one of the “Disinformation Dozen” – the 12 people responsible for 65% of anti-vaccine misinformation shared online.
Here’s part of her testimony:
“Not proven yet” is perhaps the understatement of the week.
A little nugget of information via Huff Post:
Although Overholt and Tenpenny are trained medical professionals, both ignored an obvious explanation for the key trick ― that the human body secretes a substance called sebum that’s sticky enough hold small items ― even those that aren’t magnetic.
There was little pushback against Tenpenny and her falsehoods from Republican representatives, reports The Washington Post:
Instead, some GOP representatives thanked Tenpenny for testifying in front of the Ohio House Health Committee, with one praising a podcast she hosts as “enlightening in terms of thinking.”
“What an honor to have you here,” said Rep. Jennifer L. Gross (R), a nurse who co-sponsored the bill and in a previous meeting compared businesses that require vaccinations to the Holocaust.
A general rule of thumb, I find, is to not compare things to the Holocaust.
Naturally, Tenpenny’s testimony has been breathlessly shared by anti-vaxxers, despite the Ohio Department of Health hosting a news conference where doctors dispelled vaccine misinformation.
This sort of rubbish is why so many South Africans over the age of 60 still aren’t registered for a vaccine shot, whilst a third wave is now sweeping the country, with more than 5 000 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Gauteng in the past 24 hours.
