No, this isn’t a picture of a parasite in the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

A grainy black-and-white image that’s being shared on social media is being described as a "Trypanosoma Parasite" that is composed of "carbon, oxygen, chromium, sulphur, aluminum, chloride and nitrogen." 

"A 50 micron elongated body is a sharp mysterious presence in the Pfizer vaccine," the post says. "It appears and is identified anatomically as a Trypanosoma cruzi parasite of which several variants are lethal and is one of many causes of acquired immune deficiency syndrome or AIDS." 

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Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine on Aug. 23 received full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for people 16 and older.  

A full list of ingredients in the vaccine is available on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, as well as a note that this vaccine and other COVID-19 vaccines contain no metals. 

The parasite in the post also isn’t listed. That’s because the post is baseless, experts told PolitiFact. 

"First, the object shown here is non-specific," said Dr. Bobbi Pritt, director of clinical parasitology at the Mayo Clinic. "It is blurry, and likely represents an out-of-focus non-cellular component of the vaccine."

What’s more, she said, there’s no evidence of a parasite in the image. 

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"The blurry object shown is not Trypanosoma cruzi or any other parasite," she said. 

As for the claim that this particular parasite causes AIDS, that’s also wrong, she said. 

"The only thing that causes AIDS is an infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)," she said, "and this cannot be acquired through the Pfizer vaccine." 

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