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

            If you are anything like my dad, you will say Father’s Day is a “Hallmark” holiday, designed to sell cards. Hallmark was founded as the Norfolk Post Card Company in 1907, and the first Father’s Day was celebrated in the United States in 1910, so unfortunately, I can’t rule him out totally just yet.

            According to popular belief, Father’s Day began as a way for Sonora Smart Dodd of Washington to honor her father. Given there was already a Mother’s Day and Sonora had been raised without one. Her father, William Jackson Smart, was a veteran and Sergeant of the Grand Army of the Republic during the Civil War. Her mother had passed in her teens, leaving Sonora’s single father to raise her to adulthood. Following his death, she told the Spokane Daily Chronicle “He was both father and mother to me and my brothers and sisters.” So, with that, we arrive at the day’s conception, complimenting Mother’s Day celebrated the month prior.

            To make a seemingly random tangent (it’ll become relevant), the English language is a member of the Indo-European language family, originating within the Scythian heartlands somewhere around modern-day Ukraine. Therefore, English is in some capacity related to most European, Iranian, Central Asian, and Indian languages. In English, it’s “father” while in Hindi, it’s “pita.” In Iranian Farsi it’s “pedar” and in Greek it’s “patéras.” Remarkably, for thousands of years, the name by which we call our “dad” has virtually remained unchanged. The word “dad” probably likewise comes from a “baby-talk” misconstruing of “papa” to “pa” to “da” to “dad.”

            Now, branching off of “father” but remaining on linguistics, the ancient Andeans that would eventually form the Incan Empire were the first to cultivate and domesticate the potato. They called it “papa” (no relation) according to Spanish conquistadors. However, due to miscommunications/mistranslations and likely a desire to not insult the Pope, who they called “el Papa,” they would then refer to it as “patata” which the English would transform into “potato.”

            In any regard, I thank my father for all he has done for me while also blaming him for instilling within me with a burning desire to learn random facts that only benefit me every other week in trivia. This Father’s Day, cherish the time spent with your father and likewise, your children should you have either. There is no harm in buying cards, though it may play into the stereotype stated above and reaffirm my own father’s opinions, which we just can’t have!

By Sam Bishop

Captain James Cook’s legendary ship, the HMS Endeavor, was confirmed to be located at the bottom of Newport Harbor in Rhode Island this past week. Underwater exploration of the harbor has been conducted since the early 90s, with the Australian National Maritime Museum having performed underwater archeological analysis for over 25 years. Though it was generally believed to be true by locals, the ship, or the little that’s left of it, was confirmed to sit at the bottom of the harbor in the institute’s final report.

            This corroborates the belief that the ship was purposefully scuttled by British forces in 1778~ to prevent the recapture of Newport and Aquidneck Island. The British captured Newport and the island as a whole in late-1776 and retained control over it through the Battle of Rhode Island, 1778 (where the boat was likely scuttled) until its defense was abandoned in 1779 to shift resources to other fronts. Remains of the HMS Cerberus, the HMS Lark, and other smaller transport vessels also lie in the harbor.

            Captain Cook and his HMS Endeavour are notable for their voyage to and discovery of Terra Australis by way of Cape Horn and the Drake Passage. Cook, crew, and the Endeavour mapped the New Zealand islands as well as sailing around Tasmania and up along the eastern Australian coast, passing near the Great Barrier Reef (where it struck the now named “Endeavour Reef,” narrowly avoided a shipwreck). The expedition lasted from August 1768 to July 1771. The ship is seen as the first stake in Britain’s claims to Australia and New Zealand, eventually leading to more expeditions and the eventually British colonization of Oceania.

            Currently, it is not known just how much of the ship remains intact, though it is likely not much. Metal ballast chunks are likely the easiest objects to uncover. Both Newport and Australia could lay claim to whatever is uncovered, but an amiable deal could likely be reached. Today, a replica of the HMS Endeavour is docked in Sydney Harbour. The final report by the Australian National Maritime Museum can be viewed online at www.sea.museum/en/maritime-archaeology/endeavour-report.

By Sam Bishop