A claim suggesting that C0vid-19 vaccine contains a mysterious ingredient redacted by the Food and Drug Administration, is found to be untrue.
The viral claim has added to the list of baseless conspiracy theories circulating on social media regarding the vaccine.
What is the Mysterious Ingredient?
Instagram user @PICPhyisicains posted the claim on its page. The user posted an image which showed the list of the ingredients in the Covid-19 vaccine. "Can you let us know the undisclosed COVID-19 vaccine ingredient that is redacted on Table 2?" wrote the user in the captain accompanying the post.
"Table 2 shows that 0.45 mL of an undisclosed excipient is part of the composition of the diluted vaccine solution. Because the entire solution in a multi-dose vial measures 2.25 mL, that excipient comprises 20% of the solution and potentially 20% of each vaccine dose. The undisclosed ingredient is also not disclosed in the vaccine package insert. If the American people don't know the identity of an ingredient in an FDA-approved vaccine, how is informed consent possible?" it read further.
"$100?!? Wouldn't put this poison in my body for a cool million! What good is $$ if you don't have your health (or your life)??" commented a user as another added, "I'm open to correction here but is it the case with 'patent' rights they are not obliged to declare ,disclose the full ingredients until they have full licensure ?? When the phase 3 and 4 trials are complete ??"
"The undisclosed ingredient is also not disclosed in the vaccine package insert. If the American people don't know the identity of an ingredient in an FDA-approved vaccine, how is informed consent possible?" tweeted a user.
Here is the Truth
Debunking the claim, Lead Stories, a fact checking website, stated that the redacted ingredient is salt water. Speaking to the outlet, a spokesperson for the FDA said that if the company considers a particular ingredient as a trade secret or a confidential commercial item, it gets redacted on documents that are available to the public.
In a communique to the outlet, FDA spokesperson clarified that if any person was interested in seeing an unredacted ingredient list of the COVID-19 vaccine from the FDA, it can be done by filing a Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, request.
The outlet further stated that it found out about the redacted ingredient by using a European Medicines Agency document titled, "Comirnaty, INN COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine (nucleoside-modified)."
As per the outlet, the only ingredient that was included in the document, but not in the viral post, was "Water for injections". Also, an FDA document titled, "Package Insert - COMIRNATY" lists the ingredients found in Comirnaty, the other name for Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine, mentions one of the ingredients as "The diluent (0.9% Sodium Chloride Injection, USP), another name for salt water.
