`Metals' stick to man's body; does, science group dismiss claims

SNS,  SILIGURI,13 JUNE 2021: More claim in Nashikhit headlines, a Siliguri resident today claimed that metal objects have been sticking to his body ever since he took his first dose of the Covishield Covid-19 vaccine. The 58-year-old resident of Debasis Colony under Ward 24, Nepal Chakraborty, said he had received his first dose of the vaccine on 7 June.

While Mr Chakraborty himself also said that he was not sure if the vaccine had anything to do with such a phenomenon, doctors said the Covid-19 vaccines were safe and they dismissed any relation with the vaccines. Office bearers of the Paschim Banga Vigyan Mancha (PBVM) said it was "unscientific."

"I was watching news on television about claims of magnets being attracted to the arms of Covid-vaccinated recipients on 11 June. I thought, when I had been vaccinated with the first dose, I should also experiment the same on myself, and to my surprise, I found spoons, coins, nail cutters, sticking to my body I have no physical problem after the vaccination, but my only concern is how all this is happening," Mr Chakraborty said.

Soon after news spread, he was today taken to the Siliguri District Hospital, where doctors said he would be under observation for 24 hours.

The Darjeeling district chief medical officer of health, Dr Pralay Acharya, said the vaccines were safe. "The vaccines cannot cause such a reaction in the body," Dr Acharya said.

According to Physician Dr Sankha Sen, such a thing was not possible due to the vaccination.

"There is no report that the vaccines contain magnetic and metal based ingredients. But the person requires a thorough medical investigation to ascertain the reason behind such attraction to metal objects," Dr Sen said.

The working president of the Darjeeling district committee of the PBVM, which promotes scientific thoughts, Dr Gopal Dey, said the "vaccine materials" had no link with magnetic substances. "Drawing parallels with this phenomenon and the vaccine is unscientific," he said.