Should we avoid mRNA vaccines?

Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo is once again advising Floridians not to get vaccinated against COVID using mRNA vaccines, claiming that they carry risks such as heart problems, autoimmune diseases, reduced effectiveness over time, persistent spike protein levels, possible effects on DNA, and unknown long-term impacts with repeated doses.

Using the office of Surgeon General is an appeal to authority, a logical fallacy relying on a person’s position rather than facts. Joseph Ladapo is both a physician and, more importantly, the Florida Surgeon General. On the outside, that should mean that his words lend some credibility to his statements, but his comments are offered without evidence and even against scientific consensus built from actual evidence.

It’s also ironic that Dr. Ladapo questions the evidence provided by CDC and FDA. He was caught manipulating findings in a COVID vaccine safety study to exaggerate risks of cardiac death for young men. In science, it is important to follow the science where it takes us, not to take the science where we want to go.

What of his particular COVID vaccine concerns? 

1. The risks of myocarditis are much lower after vaccination than the risks of myocarditis from COVID itself.
2. The guidance cites a paper as evidence that vaccines cause autoimmune disease, but the authors say “we conclude that mRNA-based vaccinations are not associated with an increased risk of most AI-CTDs”
3. The vaccine protection does wane, which is why boosters are recommended to increase protection against COVID disease.
4. mRNA integration into DNA cannot and does not happen. DNA is the whole of the genetic instructions for the development, functioning, and growth of every system in your body. It is housed in the cell’s nucleus (and in almost every cell in your body) which is surrounded by a nuclear membrane, separating the DNA from the rest of the cellSince DNA is kept separate, messenger RNA (mRNA) is produced to bring individual instructions to the rest of the cell. The mRNA can cross the nuclear membrane through the pores that allow for selective transport into and out of the nucleus. Generally, mRNA can exit but cannot re-enter the nucleus. Before it exits the nucleus, it is essentially given a one-way ticket that allows it through the membrane, and as it passes through, that ticket is removed, so it cannot re-enter the nucleus.The mRNA vaccine does not have a ticket to enter any cell’s nucleus. Without a ticket, it isn’t getting to anyone’s DNA and it certainly isn’t changing it.

This topic comes up a lot. See other false and misleading claims about COVID vaccines and mRNA we have debunked.