Australian State Media went there - tries to deflect
Are chemtrails being used to vaccinate Australians secretly against COVID-19? CheckMate investigates
This week, CheckMate tackles a claim that the government is allowing COVID-19 vaccines to be sprayed across the skies.
We also look at the falsehoods spread following Monday's deadly earthquake in Türkiye and Syria and round up the week in fact checks.
Claim about vaccines administered 'via air' is recycled nonsense
A decade-old conspiracy theory alleging that the Australian government had approved the use of "chemtrails" to vaccinate the population forcibly has resurfaced with a fresh COVID-19 twist.
In dozens of posts across social media, a link to a webpage belonging to the Department of Health's Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) has been shared alongside claims that vaccines spread "via air" have been approved for use.
The link leads to a list of licence applications for "dealings involving an intentional release … into the environment" of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
"NEXT LEVEL AUSTRALIA!!! WE KNEW IT WAS COMING … BUT VACCINATION VIA AIR IS HERE!" a post accompanying the link reads.
"Australia Have Approved the License Application From Big Pharma Company PaxVax That Will Allow Them To Intentionally Release a GMO Vaxxine Consisting of Live Bacteria Into Queensland Skies, via the GEO-ENGINEERING program aka = Chemtrails."
Some variations of the claim also feature a video in which an unnamed man singles out a licence on the OGTR webpage relating to a COVID-19 vaccine.
"They have been spraying a vaccine into the air for COVID-19," the man says.
But those suggestions are fundamentally flawed.
A spokesman for the Department of Health confirmed to CheckMate that "the Gene Technology Regulator has never approved, or been asked to approve, aerial distribution of any GMOs".
As made clear elsewhere on the OGTR's website, an "intentional release" of a GMO into the environment does not mean substances are being "sprayed" into the air.
Most licences issued by the regulator allow people to work with GMOs for scientific research in "laboratories, greenhouses, insectaries and other specialised facilities".
"Licences for all other work with GMOs are called a 'dealing involving intentional release into the environment' (DIR)," the regulator's website explains. "The GMOs are not contained within a facility."
"Dealings" is the legal name for the list of approved activities with a GMO, the website states.
Included under the DIR category are genetically modified crops grown in a field, genetically modified medicines and vaccines tested in a clinical trial and genetically modified medicines and vaccines for sale in a pharmacy or chemist.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-10/fact-check-covid19-vaccines-chemtrails/101950574