Misleading: Sweden is rolling out COVID-19 vaccine passports by inserting a microchip into people's hands.

By: Vivek J
November 29 2021

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Citizens are voluntarily using microchip implants for daily activities. Sweden has no official directive for a microchip vaccine passport.A video published on the website Hugotalks claimed that Sweden is introducing COVID-19 vaccine passports by inserting microchips in people's hands. A video shared by Swedish website Aftonbladet was cited to show that vaccine passports are being microchipped into people's hands. The caption under Aftonbladet's video roughly translates to "Get the COVID-19 certificate under the skin - available as a chip. Get your COVID-19 certificate in a chip in your hand or elsewhere under the skin. It is increasingly popular to insert a chip into the body with different types of information, and now you can also insert your Covid certificate in the chip." The post and caption falsely imply the government is implanting microchips as a form of vaccine passports. Many Swedish people have been voluntarily microchipping their hands even before the COVID-19 pandemic began. They use these chips to avoid carrying ID cards, key cards, keep track of emergency numbers and track their daily activities. Inserting a microchip is gaining popularity in Sweden including state-owned SJ rail line scanning passengers' hands with biometric chips to collect train fares. There are ongoing discussions on replacing conventional debit cards and credit cards with microchips. Additionally, in the video shared by Aftonbladet, a person can be heard saying that he uses his chip to keep track of his health. A reporter can be heard asking the person microchipped about the COVID-19 vaccine passports in the Swedish language. The conversation is only about how vaccine information can also be included in the microchips. It does not explicitly discuss having microchips as a form of vaccine passport. The Swedish government has made no announcement of introducing microchipping as a type of vaccine passport, for those who are already implanted or otherwise. According to the existing regulations, vaccine certificates can either be downloaded physically or accessed using a mobile device. The vaccine passport information page of the European Union also does not mention any microchip vaccine passports being considered by its member nations. The possibility of having vaccine passport details on a microchip has been misrepresented to show that Sweden is microchipping vaccine passports into people's hands. The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a lot of potentially dangerous misinformation. For reliable advice on COVID-19, including symptoms, prevention, and available treatment, please refer to the World Health Organization or your national healthcare authority.