Why Concerns about The New RNA vaccines make no sense
I have heard from some patients that they have decided not
to get the COVID vaccine. They give many reasons. These include concern that
the vaccine is too new, and we do not know about side effects. Also about possible
long term complications. One patient was worried about putting something into
his body.
There are those who don’t believe the disease exists. If seeing
sick people with COVID-19, and interviews with deniers on their death bed “I
thought it wasn’t real!”, as well as an excess of 520,000 deaths over average
in 2020 in the United States does not convince them, I think I have some swamp
land to sell. Those naïve people can stop reading and go back to their homes.
Anti-vaxxers have many reasons not to get vaccines, few or
none of which have any scientific basis. Some believe that the adjuvants added
to may vaccines (often organic aluminum) can cause damage. Again there is no
proof of this, but it is understandable. The belief that vaccines can cause
autism has been disproven many times over. But let’s not talk about older
vaccines.
First you need to undertand how a virus infection works. A
virus is simply genetic material surrounded by a fatty membrane (also called a
lipid coat). When a virus infects you, its lipid membrane combines with your
individual cell mabrane and the genetic material (RNA or DNA) gets injected
into your cell. Then your cell uses the RNA to create new proteins and more RNA
which become new viral particles. And it keeps doing this until it explodes
releasing all the infectious particles.
To help the virus enter the cell the lipid coat has proteins,
or spikes, on its surface, that guide it to the cells it wants to infect.
You get sick because your body gets overwhelmed by the virus
particles that your own body made, and there is widespread destruction of
tissue (with COVID the lungs) as cells explode releasing virus.
Our bodies have an amazing way of defending itself against
infection. It has a “random” method of producing antibodies which are
programmed to match the spikes on the virus. These antibodies attach to the
virus and then attract killer white blood cells to destroy the virus.
Unfortunately it can take 2-6 weeks for our bodies to adapt and produce sufficient
permanent antibodies to make us immune. The body can program some immediate antibodies
as well, that can clear up the initial infection; this can take 2-12 days. In some people the virus can
overwhelm this initial defense.
These “permanent” antibodies are also called neutralizing
antibodies. Are these really permanent? We really don’t know, but based on
every other virus these should last many years. (Flu virus changes totally
every year so previous year’s vaccine may not work).
The best way for medicine to prevent infection would be to
induce production of these neutralizing antibodies before we get infected.
Before MRNA vaccines scientists would try to make the virus pass through
chicken egg cells so it would change and not be as dangerous, but still could produce
an immune response. Or inject us with the spike protein attached to an
adjuvant, like aluminum, to induce a larger response.
Imagine if there was a COVID type virus that caused your
cells to make only spike protein and not new viruses. And didn’t kill the cell.
The new mRNA vaccines are such a breakthrough!
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are almost like viruses
themselves – but not infections. Scientists have created a lipid coated “virus”
that only contains genetic material to induce your cells to produce spike
proteins. These proteins are released alone so the cell does not explode. Then
the body, in about 2 weeks, makes neutralizing antibodies. The vaccine does not
contain any adjuvants or other artificial ingredients.
So we have a choice – get infected with the virus – with the
possibility of dying, or becoming a long-hauler with chronic heart or brain
issues. Or if you recover then you have neutralizing antibodies that protect
you against future infections. Of course the alternative is to “catch” a viral
infection that only produces the spike proteins and makes your body make the
exact same neutralizing antibodies you would get if you had the real infection.
That, naturally, is the new mRNA vaccine.
This new vaccine technology, first developed in 2008, is a
game changer in vaccines. No longer do we have to try and inactivate the
potentially deadly virus; we can create our own virus like particle that only
contains enough genetic material to cause antibodies to be made.
To me the choice seems quite easy. Get a potentially fatal
or disabling disease and if you survive make some neutralizing antibodies. Or
take a vaccine which is essentially a modifies virus, which does not make you
sick but makes you produce the exact same antibodies (actually in larger
amounts).
Can anyone tell me why someone would refuse the vaccine? Do
they prefer to get the disease? Or are they just being stubborn, knowing they
are wrong, but obstinately refusing to admit it.
