Orange County Third District Supervisor Don Wagner held an impromptu press conference on Thursday, April 29, after a video clip of him asking Orange County Health Officer Dr. Clayton Chau to answer a question about a COVID-19 conspiracy went viral earlier this week.

https://www.facebook.com/364836567488558/videos/757878621544246

During the short video address, Wagner and Chau also voiced concerns regarding vaccine hesitancy in Orange County.

“Vaccine hesitancy here in Orange County is a real thing — it is a real concern. We are hearing about it on the Board of Supervisors,” Wagner said in a video published to Facebook. “Though the initial tendency is to laugh off some of the crazy reports that we’ve seen in the press, that are patently absurd on their face, doing so may be a disservice.”

On Thursday, Wagner called out the reporting of several news publications, including The Daily Beast, HuffPost, the New York Post, and the Jimmy Fallon Show, for journalistic inaccuracy and lack of context surrounding the viral clip.

“It’s not just bad journalism, it contributes to that vaccine hesitancy that Dr. Chau and I are fighting. Those media outlets never sought comment or clarification from us, they did not post the statements we were addressing from the public — that we will make available to you,” Wagner said. “They did not, in anyway, do the due diligence that responsible journalists should do to cover a story.”

The now-viral clip of Wagner asking the county health officer if the COVID-19 vaccine has a tracking device in it during a recent Board of Supervisor was first posted by Twitter user and digital journalist Timothy Burke. 

After the interaction became viral, Wagner responded to Burke, saying he was attempting to debunk COVID-19 conspiracy theories that have been brought forth by the public during recent Board of Supervisors meetings.

Burke posted the clip on Tuesday, April 27, which now has more than 1.5 million views. He captioned it, “Republican Don Wagner, who represents three million Orange County residents, wants to know if the Covid vaccine has a tracking device in it.”

On Wednesday, April 28, Wagner responded to Burke’s viral clip.

Funny. I’m working through the conspiracy theories we heard about at the meeting, debunking them with Dr. Chau, and these folks try to spin it as serious concerns. What dishonest hacks.

In the 38-second clip, being shared on social media and other news publications, Wagner asks Dr. Chau if the COVID-19 is a tracking device, during the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, April 27.

“Is there any intention of tracking folks — we heard about a vaccine as a tracking device — is that being done anywhere in Orange County?” Wagner asked.

Wagner’s question prompted an immediate chuckle out of Chau, who said he needed to compose himself, and responded:

“There is not a vaccine with a tracking device embedded in it that I know of, exist in the world. Period.”

However, the clip lacks the context of the interaction. 

In recent weeks, Orange County Board of Supervisor meetings have become a hotbed for anti-mask and anti-vaccination rhetoric from the public, with hundreds of public speakers claiming the lockdown is just a form of control, and the COVID-19 vaccine is an experimental medical device.

Many public speakers have also demanded Chau’s resignation.

In addition to the demands for Chau to step down, the public has recently become vocal about the concept of vaccination passports, which is a QR code that holds proof of an individual’s vaccination records.

The majority of public speakers at the Board of Supervisors meetings are against vaccination passports, with many voicing strong opinions and theories about how vaccine passports will be mandatory for access to goods and services.

Chau has repeatedly contradicted those claims.

Chau said these QR codes are optional, and are currently only being issued by the Othena app and will only be used in situations in which proof of vaccination is required.

During the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, April 27, there were more than 60 requests to address the board during public comment. Speaker Lee Dee, the first speaker on agenda item S54G, during Tuesday’s meeting, said the Composite App, which is the developer of Othena, will interfere with personal freedoms.

“From what I understand, the Composite App system, as I understand it, has a mechanism that has a digital tracking that will allow it to infringe on our freedom, and keep our access into business and governmental buildings — discriminating against those who do not want to have this genetic, non-FDA approved, experimental, medical device into our bodies that will hijack our DNA and our immune system, forever. It goes against HIPAA laws – we want informed consent by our Board of Supervisors to represent us as the people, to allow us to be free Americans.”

The trend has continued for several weeks.

On Tuesday April 13, more than 200 public speakers addressed the Board of Supervisors, demanding the county not adopt vaccination passports. Dozens of speakers compared vaccine passports to the Star of David in Nazi Germany, claiming the passports would be used to access goods and services.

Chau explained that the use of a vaccination passport was only for proof of vaccination, citing the Center for Disease Control’s announcement that the white vaccination cards were no longer valid proof, due to ongoing forgeries.

While the board was set to vote on the adoption of digital vaccination records through Othena on Tuesday, April 27, Chairman Andrew Do explained that the language within the contract is still being determined, and the board would be prepared to vote by the next meeting on Tuesday, May 11.

“That’s it, for now, just pause on that — in terms of the contract — at some point Frank [Kim] will present a final draft of the contract with county counsel’s input and then the board at that point will take formal action on it,” Do said. “The board cannot take action without a board meeting or a special meeting — so I have to say, Yes at the next meeting.”

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