Nurse’s Attempt To Prove Vaccines Make People Magnetic Hilariously Backfires

On Tuesday, an anti-vaccine Ohio nurse attempted to prove that COVID-19 vaccines make people magnetic, but ― to use a gymnastics term ― she failed to stick the landing.

Registered nurse Joanna Overholt, testifying before the Ohio House health committee about what she said were potential coronavirus vaccine dangers, tried to use her own body as proof.

Overholt said she heard during lunch that vaccines cause magnetism in humans, so she decided to prove her point on herself by attempting to show how a bobby pin and a key would stick to her exposed skin.

Spoiler alert: It didn’t go well.

“Explain to me why the key sticks to me. It sticks to my neck, too,” Overholt said. “So, yeah, if somebody could explain this, that would be great.” The nonmagnetic aluminum key fell off her neck as soon as she removed her. Hand.

The false vaccine magnetism theory was brought up earlier during the hearing by Ohio physician Sherri Tenpenny; a watchdog group cited as a member of the “Disinformation Dozen,” the 12 people responsible for 65% of anti-vaccine misinformation shared on the Internet.

“I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures all over the internet of people who have had these shots, and now they’re magnetized,” Tenpenny said, according to the Columbus Dispatch. “You can put a key on their forehead; it sticks. You can put spoons and forks all over, and they can stick because now we think there is a metal piece to that.”

Although Overholt and Tenpenny are trained medical professionals, both ignored an obvious explanation for the key trick: the human body secretes a substance called sebum that’s sticky enough to hold small items ― even those that aren’t magnetic.

While Overholt got into a sticky situation with her testimony, the nonmagnetic nurse is starting to attract some viral social media attention.