‘Altered DNA’ claims
The fear that a vaccine will somehow change your DNA is one we’ve seen aired regularly on social media.
The BBC asked three independent scientists about this. They said that the coronavirus vaccine would not alter human DNA.
Some of the newly created vaccines, including the one now approved in the UK developed by Pfizer/BioNTech, use a fragment of the virus’s genetic material – or messenger RNA.
“Injecting RNA into a person doesn’t do anything to the DNA of a human cell,” says Prof Jeffrey Almond of Oxford University.
It works by giving the body instructions to produce a protein which is present on the surface of the coronavirus.
The immune system then learns to recognise and produce antibodies against the protein.
This isn’t the first time we’ve looked into claims that a coronavirus vaccine will supposedly alter DNA. We investigated a popular video spreading the theory back in May.
Posts have noted that messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine technology “has never been tested or approved before”.
It is true that no mRNA vaccine has been approved before now, but multiple studies of mRNA vaccines in humans have taken place over the last few years. And, since the pandemic started, the vaccine has been tested on tens of thousands of people around the world and has gone through a rigorous safety approval process.
Like all new vaccines, it has to undergo rigorous safety checks before it can be recommended for widespread use.
In Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials, vaccines are tested in small numbers of volunteers to check they are safe and to determine the right dose.
In Phase 3 trials they are tested in thousands of people to see how effective they are. The group who received the vaccine and a control group who have received a placebo are closely monitored for any adverse reactions – side-effects. Safety monitoring continues after a vaccine has been approved for use.
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