To Antivaxxers Everywhere – mRNA Vaccines DO NOT Alter Your DNA!!!

When I was in the hospital for my ablation procedure back at the end of March this year to correct the damage done by COVID-19 to the left side of my heart and associated pulmonary veins, I was being attended to by a nurse who was convinced that mRNA vaccines could alter a person’s DNA.

Having studied mRNA technology and written about it on this blog site, and understanding the relationship between RNA and DNA, it is time for a refresher course on what mRNA is and isn’t.

mRNA stands for Messenger Ribonucleic Acid. Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) plays an important role in managing the internal health of our body’s cells.

DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic Acid. DNA is the molecule upon which all life on Earth is based.

How are the two related?

Human DNA provides an instruction manual necessary to make one of us. Every cell contains a complex of molecules called amino acids. Amino acids are divided into two groups: an amino group (NH2) and a carboxyl group (COOH), nitrogen and carbon-based molecules, the stuff of planets and stars. Amino acids make up the cell stuff we call enzymes and proteins. DNA instructs this cell stuff to maintain healthy cells. The process goes like this:

1. Enzymes contained within our cells serve different tasks. Some read information provided by DNA.
2. DNA information is transcribed to specific types of RNA which act as messengers to carry out DNA’s instructions. Hence we call this RNA, mRNA. There are other forms of RNA that don’t play a messenger role.
3. mRNA specifically delivers messages sent by DNA written in a language that enzymes within a cell can read. The enzymes then carry out the instructions whether it is to create a protein, such as an antibody, or do some other task. When mRNA delivers the instructions its job is over and it quickly breaks down into amino acids.

So DNA is like a person writing a letter. The language in the letter is a set of instructions that cell enzymes can read. mRNA gets the letter from DNA and delivers it to the enzymes that read the contents and execute the instructions. Once the delivery has been made the letter carrier has done its job, finishes the shift, and goes home.

So where has the confusion come from when talking about mRNA and DNA. It’s the last two letters, the NA that RNA and DNA share that seem to have freaked out those who are reluctant to be vaccinated.

A quick explanation of how the vaccine works differently from what is described in the DNA-to-mRNA-to-enzyme transcription-translation process (see the illustration at the beginning of this article). Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are the two current leading mRNA vaccines being used globally to combat COVID-19. Both deliver millions of nanoparticles containing mRNA with the blueprint of the COVID-19 protein spike that is the genetic marker chosen as the unique identifier. The mRNA delivers this information to cells allowing the engine within them to start creating specific proteins called antibodies that identify and mark for destruction objects floating around in the body with the COVID-19 protein spike characteristic. The immune system is now alert to look for the presence of the COVID-19 protein spike. Every infected cell gets marked. T-cells, the more potent half of the immune system’s defences now seek out the antibody markers and engulf any tagged cells to destroy them.

Note, that at no time does the vaccine-delivered COVID-19 spike protein interact with the cell’s DNA. The vaccine’s trick is to bypass DNA entirely (that’s the reason for the syringe in the illustration that accompanies this article) and use mRNA molecules as the delivery agent. The mRNA carries the vaccine’s marching orders, not orders given to it by DNA. The process is just as much one way as it would be if DNA was writing the instructions for mRNA to deliver to the cell, a one-way street.

To learn more, an article in The Conversation on this subject appeared on June 24, 2021. It’s worth reading.