News & Views: 3 Questions You Will Get About the New mRNA Vaccines
Published on in Vaccine Update for Healthcare Providers
Published on in Vaccine Update for Healthcare Providers
The first COVID-19 vaccines to be approved by the FDA were bound to garner much attention; however, the fact that they employ a technology never before used in a vaccine approved for use in people means even more questions and concerns. Vaccine Education Center staff have been busy answering lots of questions on our dedicated webpage, COVIDVaccineAnswers.org, but we wanted to offer a bit more depth on three questions you are bound to be asked:
You will also likely be asked about the allergic reactions that occurred in a few vaccine recipients in the UK. Please check the “In the journals” section of the newsletter, where Dr. Offit discusses this additional, important topic of interest.
The short answer to this question is “no,” but in and of itself that is not very satisfying, so let’s take a closer look. We can be confident that mRNA vaccines are not able to alter a person’s DNA for three reasons:
Because mRNA vaccines rely on a nucleic acid and not production of virus particles or proteins, they have relatively few components compared with more traditional vaccines. The Pfizer vaccine lists four categories of agents, with one to four items in each category:
Almost as important as what the vaccines contain is the list of things these vaccines do not contain. Because they do not require growth of or contain virus, no antibiotics or preservatives (thimerosal) are necessary. Likewise, no cell lines are used in their production, so rumors of fetal cells in these vaccines are ill-founded. To note, some of the other COVID-19 vaccines that may be developed use fetal tissues, but the mRNA vaccines do not.
Blood products are also not contained in the mRNA vaccines. One source of confusion related to this was a USA Today article about the use of horseshoe crab blood in the Limulus amebocyte lysate, or LAL, test used to check vaccines and other biological products for endotoxins.
The mRNA vaccines do not contain any proteins, so concerns about egg or gluten allergies are moot.
Likewise, the vaccines do not contain microchips, as widely circulated online. Snopes has addressed this issue if you want to read more or share with patients.
Some of the messaging related to the mRNA vaccines and how well they worked in the clinical trials has been lost in translation by the media, leaving people confused about how they might still be able to spread the virus if the vaccine worked. Here is some context for addressing this point of confusion:
While we now know that vaccinated people can be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 and we know that these individuals have detectable amounts of viral proteins similar to the amounts found in unvaccinated persons early but not late during infection, we continue to wait for data to answer the question of whether vaccinated people who get COVID-19 can spread the virus. It is likely that some previously vaccinated individuals who become infected can spread the virus to others, especially those who get severely ill. However, two caveats are important to understand:
Contributed by: Charlotte A. Moser, MS, Paul A. Offit, MD
Categories: Vaccine Update December 2020, News and Views About Vaccines
Materials in this section are updated as new information and vaccines become available. The Vaccine Education Center staff regularly reviews materials for accuracy.
You should not consider the information in this site to be specific, professional medical advice for your personal health or for your family's personal health. You should not use it to replace any relationship with a physician or other qualified healthcare professional. For medical concerns, including decisions about vaccinations, medications and other treatments, you should always consult your physician or, in serious cases, seek immediate assistance from emergency personnel.