Newsmax White House correspondent Emerald Robinson on Monday night tweeted out the utterly batshit claim that COVID-19 vaccines contain a “bioluminescent marker” named after Lucifer “so that you can be tracked.”
Twitter has since taken down Robinson’s post, replacing it with a note stating the tweet violated the social platform’s rules.
Newsmax, meanwhile, distanced itself from the “false claims” made by its reporter, noting that the network has “never reported” that the vaccines contain tracking devices.
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Robinson, who has a long history of making provocative and outrageous statements on social media, reacted to another Twitter user’s post that the “Moderna vaccine DOES contain Luciferase.” That user also attached a clip featuring a Wikipedia description of the enzyme, which notes that “the name is derived from the Latin word lucifer, meaning ‘lightbearer’” and the enzyme produces bioluminescence.
“Dear Christians: the vaccines contain a bioluminescent marker called LUCIFERASE so that you can be tracked,” Robinson blared in her Monday night tweet. “Read the last book of the New Testament to see how this ends.”
The Biblical reference cites the Book of Revelation, which describes a war in heaven between the Archangel Michael and “fallen angels” led by the devil, also known as Lucifer. The book also warns that “no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
None of the COVID-19 vaccines, however, contain luciferase or any other tracking materials. While the enzyme was used in COVID-19 research to help researchers track how viruses interact with cells, luciferase is not an ingredient in the actual vaccines. Furthermore, the enzyme has nothing to do with Satan or the devil, as its name merely references the Latin term for light.
The far-right reporter’s tweet immediately prompted widespread mockery on social media, with the term “Luciferase” trending on Twitter on Tuesday. Besides ridiculing the Newsmax correspondent for the ridiculous assertion that vaccines include a devil-linked tracking device, many Twitter users mocked her for blasting her tweet out via an iPhone.
“She tweets out that the COVID vaccine is meant to track your every move from an iPhone which literally tracks your every move,” political observer Josh Jordan noted. “The problem is that she knows it's nonsense, but she's built a brand on taking advantage of those who don't know any better.”
A Twitter spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment as to why Robinson’s tweet was pulled and whether it violated the tech giant’s rules against COVID-19 misinformation.
“Newsmax strongly believes and has reported that the Covid 19 vaccines are safe and effective. We do not believe the vaccines contain any toxic materials or tracking markers, and such false claims have never been reported on Newsmax,” the network said in a statement essentially rebuking Robinson on Tuesday afternoon. “The many medical experts appearing on Newsmax have supported the use of the vaccine.”
Notably, when Newsmax anchor Rob Schmitt claimed vaccines are “against nature” and some diseases are “supposed to wipe out a certain amount of people” in July, a network spokesperson said Schmitt’s opinions “do not reflect the position of Newsmax.”
This is far from the first time Robinson has peddled disinformation on the coronavirus vaccines. In September of last year, for instance, she falsely claimed that “the new vaccines will rewrite your DNA.” And three months ago, she misleadingly suggested that the CEO of Pfizer was not vaccinated.
