Covid-19 Vaccines In Salad Dressing? Here’s What Michael Flynn Claimed
Lettuce be clear about what Michael Flynn said on a video that’s been making the rounds on social media.
While on what appeared to be a video panel, Flynn, the former National Security Advisor under former U.S. President Donald Trump, mentioned that “Somebody sent me a thing this morning where they’re talking about putting the vaccine into salad dressing, or salads.” So basically Flynn was sharing his “thing” or someone else’s “thing” with whomever happened to be watching the video panel. Was Flynn actually tossing around a conspiracy theory about Covid-19 vaccines being secretly put in salads or salad dressing? Did he leave any context behind what he said? Was their any chard evidence behind what he said?
Well, take a look at what he said in the video accompanying the following tweet:
Flynn, by the way, is not known to be a medical doctor nor a public health expert. Flynn had served as an adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 Presidential campaign. After Trump had assumed the position, as U.S. President, that is, Flynn then became the U.S. National Security Advisor for the Trump Administration. Flynn lasted for approximately two Scaramuccis (just a few days over 20 days) before resigning amidst questions about whether he had secret discussions with the Russian ambassador to the U.S., as reported by Julina Borger for The Guardian. He eventually pled guilty to lying to the FBI during a investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller but Trump subsequently pardoned Flynn.
Flynn did not say on the video segment whether he actually agreed with the salad claim. He only added, “I’m thinking to myself, this is the Bizarro World, right,” and did not clarify that there is no evidence that anyone is secretly putting Covid-19 vaccines into salads or salad dressing. He also did not elaborate where his or someone else’s “thing” came from or what exactly this “thing” was. In general, it’s a good idea to be careful about sharing your “thing” with other people without providing more details or warning. Sharing something without offering enough context can be a way of spreading misinformation.
This left folks searching for Flynn’s “thing.” Dan Evon, writing for Snopes, offered a possibility. A September 16 article by Jules Bernstein for the University of California-Riverside (UCR) News began with the lines, “the future of vaccines may look more like eating a salad than getting a shot in the arm. UC Riverside scientists are studying whether they can turn edible plants like lettuce into mRNA vaccine factories.” Note that Juan Pablo Giraldo, PhD., an associate professor in UCR’s Department of Botany and Plant Sciences and his team of collaborators at UCR, UC San Diego, and Carnegie Mellon University are studying this possibility but have not achieved it yet. They’ve received a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to do such work. They will attempt to use plant cells to produce enough mRNA to serve as a mRNA vaccine.
OK. Trying to get plants to produce mRNA is very different from someone secretly putting Covid-19 vaccines in your salad or salad dressing. Plus, researching something is not the same as doing it. For example, researchers have tried gluing sticks to chickens’ butts. But that doesn’t mean that this will be a widespread practice beyond the lab. Similarly, trying to get plants to produce mRNA is not the same as already accomplishing it. And getting a plant to produce mRNA is not the same as putting it in your salad dressing or salad.
So these certainly are not the salad days yet when it comes to the Covid-19 vaccines. That didn’t stop Stephen Colbert from dressing things up during last night’s episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert:
As you can see, Colbert managed to weave various salad dressing names into his monologue but didn’t include all possibilities due to limited thyme.
Colbert wasn’t the only one to Caesar the opportunity to lay it on thick. For example, this tweet managed to combine Flynn’s statement and Nicky Minaj’s unverified claims about what supposedly happened to her cousin’s friends balls after he got the Covid-19 vaccine:
As I covered for Forbes last week, there’s no hard evidence that the Covid-19 vaccine is linked to testicular swelling or impotence. Salad dressing shouldn’t cause such swelling either, depending of course on where you put the salad dressing and how exactly you are eating the dressing. If your balls start swelling after you get the Covid-19 vaccine or eat a salad, check first to see if there is another cause. For example, make sure that no one is punching you in the balls at the same time.
Flynn’s comments were yet another example of how sharing information without enough context can lead to the spread of misinformation. While it’s not completely clear what Flynn’s intentions may have been, what he said could lead others to think, “oh my goodness, they’re secretly putting things in my salad dressing now,” whoever “they” may be. It can be dangerous to toss around bits of information when it really only represents just the tip of the iceberg.
