RFK Jr, our anti-science Secretary of Health and Human Services, has declared that new vaccines should be developed without using mRNA technology and has cast doubt on the safety of mRNA.
What do we know about this technology?
mRNA occurs normally in our bodies. It carries instructions from our DNA out to the cells where these “blueprints” are used to make proteins. mRNA is inherently short-lived. It delivers instructions and then is programmed to die. It typically lasts a few days at most.
The traditional way to make vaccines is to grow viruses in culture, break them apart, and use the fragments of viral proteins to make vaccines. When these are injected, the body’s immune system recognizes them as foreign and develops an immune response that ramps up if the virus later attacks us.
When mRNA is used to create vaccines, mRNA carries instructions into our cells to build proteins that form part of a virus, such as the spike protein of the Covid virus. The body’s cells make these proteins, which the body recognizes as foreign and makes antibodies against them. These antibodies are now prepared to fight off the virus should we encounter it.
The big advantage of using mRNA to create vaccines over the traditional method is that vaccines can be made much more quickly, typically within weeks of a new virus being identified. The old method, growing viruses in culture and using disrupted virus particles to stimulate the immune system, typically took months.
Should we experience another pandemic, mRNA vaccines will save countless lives.
Are these vaccines dangerous?
They do NOT change our DNA. mRNA makes a one-way trip and does not enter the nucleus or change our DNA.
Yes, people can get muscle aches and fever, but this can happen with any vaccine – it is part of the body’s response to a foreign protein.
There were cases of heart muscle inflammation after the Covid vaccination, but there were many more in people who got infected with Covid.
It has been over four years since the mRNA vaccines were introduced, and there have been no new safety concerns.
Do not let fear-mongering persuade you. The vaccines are safe and could save your life.
Edward Hoffer MD is Associate Professor of Medicine, part-time, at Harvard.
What Does The Doctor Say?
By Dr. Edward Hoffer