DEEP DIVE

Current renditions of the syringe emoji 💉 show it full of red liquid that represents blood. As the COVID-19 vaccine begins to be administered worldwide, people are using 💉 more often to represent vaccines rather than blood drawing.

Previously, Google and Facebook’s syringe emoji had a green liquid inside and Samsung’s featured a clear liquid or empty syringe. At the time of writing, Twitter’s emoji includes a clear syringe and both Apple and Google have plans to update theirs to be clear to better represent the COVID-19 vaccine.

The syringe can also represent drugs that are injected including legal pharmaceuticals and illegal ones like heroin.