Document mentioning cryogenic-electron microscopy does not prove Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine contains graphene oxide
Graphene oxide, which can be toxic, is not an ingredient of Covid-19 vaccines.
(Reuters) - A Pfizer document submitted to the U.S. Federal Drug Administration describes a microscop7 study of the SARS-CoV-2 protein that used graphene oxide in one step, but the reference to that material has been misrepresented in social media posts that falsely claim the Covid-19 vaccine contains graphene oxide.
Examples are viewable (here) (here)
Graphene oxide, which can be toxic, is not an ingredient of Covid-19 vaccines, as addressed by Reuters in 2021 (here) (here) .
THE DOCUMENT
The document in question is titled “Structural and Biophysical Characterization of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein (P2 S) as a Vaccine Antigen.” It was published by the group Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency on Feb. 1, 2023 (archived here), which has questioned U.S. Covid policies and vaccines, and which obtained thousands of pages related to the FDA’s approval of the Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine via the Freedom of Information Act and a lawsuit in Texas federal court. Reuters reporting on the case is viewable (here) (here)
A synopsis shown on page 3 of the document explains that the study was intended to characterize physical properties of the version of the coronavirus spike protein used in the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine.
Users are pointing to section “3.4 Cryo-EM of P2 S” on page 7 (screenshot here: ibb.co/5KtzQXJ), which describes a method employed to visualize the protein using a type of electron microscopy.
The reference to graphene oxide can be found in the first sentence of the section and states the following: “For TwinStrep-tagged P2 S, 4 μL purified protein at 0.5 mg/mL were applied to gold Quantifoil R1.2/1.3 300 mesh grids freshly overlaid with graphene oxide.”
CRYOGENIC-ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
Britain’s Royal Society of Biology explains that cryogenic-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is a technique to study the “structural arrangement of biological samples” by freezing the samples at very low temperatures (here here). By combining different views of the molecular sample, its structure can then be translated to a 3D model.
A video by UC San Francisco (UCSF) explaining cryo-EM can be found (here)
Graphene oxide (GO) is a useful material for making the “grid” on which the frozen sample under study is placed, Yifan Cheng, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at UCSF, and colleagues explain in a 2018 paper published in the Journal of Structural Biology (here)
In cryo-EM, graphene oxide is a commonly used substrate for grids preparation, but this does not mean that the sample contains graphene oxide, Cheng told Reuters.
“In this method, a small droplet (2 microliter) of sample is applied to a meshed grid, followed by blotting and plunge freezing the grid/sample to the liquid nitrogen temperature, before loading it to an electron microscope for taking thousands or more images. When preparing grids, GO substrate is commonly used to prepare better cryo-EM grids. The sample does NOT contain any GO.”
FDA Press Officer Abby Capobianco told Reuters that Pfizer submitted the document to the FDA.
“Graphene oxide is included in a sentence on page 7 to describe, in part, the laboratory procedure pertaining to the study of the structural characterization of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein using a specific type of microscope. Graphene oxide is a material to aid in the imaging of the protein. Graphene oxide is not an ingredient in the vaccine,” she said.
When contacted by Reuters, a Pfizer spokesperson sent a link with the full list of ingredients of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine (here, see page six). No graphene oxide is listed.
“We confirm that graphene oxide is not used in the manufacture of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine,” the spokesperson said.
Pfizer did not comment further on the circulating document.
VERDICT
False. The Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine does not contain graphene oxide. This document mentions the use of graphene oxide in a grid where a sample of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein was placed in a cryogenic-electron microscopy study.
