A California health official couldn't stop himself from laughing as a Republican supervisor grilled him on the coronavirus vaccine and tracking devices.
Orange County supervisor Don Wagner has been a skeptic about efforts to mitigate the pandemic, and he demanded answers Tuesday evening about the vaccine from Dr. Clayton Chau, the county's chief public health officer and director of the Orange County Health Care Agency.
"Is there any intention of tracking folks?" Wagner asked.
Chau indicated there was no intention of that, and Wagner returned to baseless conspiracy theories about that topic.
"We heard about an injection of a tracking device," Wagner said. "Is that being done anywhere in Orange County?"
Chau did not immediately respond, and then the microphone picked up his audible laughter.
"I'm sorry, I just have to compose myself," Chau said after a pause. "There is not a vaccine with a tracking device embedded in it that I know of [that] exists in the world, period."
Social media users have shared content suggesting that a microchip on vaccine syringes used to certify that individual doses are safe could be injected for nefarious purposes, but no such technology exists at this time.
Republican Don Wagner, who represents three million Orange County residents, wants to know if the Covid vaccine has a tracking device in it pic.twitter.com/vNCQexKFBI
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) April 28, 2021
