A friend of mine recently wrote to me about a Facebook post entitled ‘mRNA Vaccination: Who knows what lies ahead?’. This contains a litany of misunderstandings mixed with some factually correct information that combine to make a confusing and potentially toxic cocktail of misinformation. But examining it in detail also helps to understand how these misunderstandings arise and to address them. So with that endeavour in mind, let’s dissect what this Facebook post contains:

In summary, it asserts that ‘vaccinated people are dangerous for unvaccinated people in their vicinity’ and goes on to quote a respected researcher, Professor Banks at the University of Washington School of Medicine for a description of how mRNA vaccines work. This however is then conflated with some other assertions from other sources which are simply factually incorrect. Based on this mix-up of data, the writer then proposes that an mRNA vaccine ‘becomes a time bomb and a biological weapon, and we won’t see the real effects until five to ten years from today.’ As the piece continues, the writer drifts further from the largely factual description of mRNA vaccine mechanism to apocalyptic scenarios, declaring that ‘the spike mRNA serum has the ability to force your body’s cells to create modified pathogens and infect people around you’, and thence that ‘once vaccinated these people will contaminate everyone around them, and become carriers of walking diseases. When the spike protein produced by the mRNA vaccine in the bodies of the vaccinated are released out of their bodies and spread around them infecting healthy people, it will be a big new public health plague.’ At the end, the piece quotes a number of anti-vaxx sources, largely opinion pieces masquerading in come cases as scientific papers, proposing various hypotheses, but lacking any credible verifiable data.

The Washington University professor allegedly quoted, William A Blake, is a bona fide professor of medicine who has done legitimate published research on Covid-19 and the brain. However, as the writer quotes no references for what Professor Blake is alleged to have said, what is quoted in his name cannot reliably be attributed to him. Nor does his name appear in the articles quoted as references by the writer: Sananbiens or Naturstoff Medizin.

The following seems to be attributed to Prof Banks:

‘To function as a vaccine, the messenger RNA must enter the cell via a lipid sphere, then give the signal to ribosomes to produce S Spike protein (used by the Covid-19 virus to penetrate the host and start the contagion), which then leaves the cell, in order to trigger an immune reaction with the development of antibodies. This way the body would already be prepared to attack the virus as soon as it attempts to infect the subject with the S Spike protein. We agree that mRNA doesn’t get incorporated into the cellular core, where DNA is contained, but there are some, albeit not very common, factors that could lead to the inclusion of the mRNA genetic code into human DNA. One of these, for example, is the presence of an enzyme called reverse transcriptase, which is not naturally present in our cells, but is carried by retroviruses (e.g. HIV).’

And is largely accurate, though not expressed in ways a research scientist would be likely to use.

Importantly for the anti-vaxx theory here, reverse transcriptase in an enzyme used by a very small number of human RNA viruses whose replication process requires integration of the viral genome into the human DNA for successful replication. Six human retroviruses have so far been identified and all infect a specific type of human cells, the T cells, which form part of the immune response system. They include HIV 1 and 2. As the text says, it isn’t naturally found in the human body, and nor is it in the mRNA vaccine. However, as I mentioned in ‘Germs of Truth‘, there is some evidence that SARS-Cov-2 might be able to incorporate parts of its genome into human DNA, but little is known about how it does it, nor the effects. And some researchers have recently queried this data.

For the scenario suggested in the Facebook piece to come about, a human cell would have to be infected with a human retrovirus (to provide the reverse transcriptase) AND simultaneously be vaccinated against SARS-Cov-2. I’m not aware of any studies on this rare (but possible) scenario. The phenomenon of co-infection of HIV and SARS Cov 2 has been reported, but is rare and is documented in just 63 cases. The reverse transcriptase from the HIV virus would then need to successfully reverse transcribe the mRNA into human DNA, transport it into the cell nucleus from the cytoplasm, do it repeatedly and at scale around the body and even then, it would only be coding for a single protein among the two million or so already in the human body. And then it would need to express itself pathologically and evade our immune responses.

From that point, the rest of the text becomes even less based in science. It continues, ‘an alteration in the process of protein synthesis, called ‘alternative splicing’, was found to be the cause of the development and growth of some tumors, without altering the DNA in any way.’ Alternative splicing is a perfectly natural way in which the cell takes a set of mRNA code from the nucleus’s DNA, and uses it to code for several different proteins in a very efficient way. In effect it depends where the code reads from and how it interprets certain sequences called introns which regulate gene activity. This is not an accidental process, but is coded in the original DNA and expressed in the introns and exons. Like all cellular activity there can be transcription errors which mean that the alternative splicing mechanism goes awry. But in mRNA vaccines, there is no DNA-RNA transcription, so this simply cannot apply.

The text then goes on to state, ‘We also know that diseases caused by mRNA vaccines can no longer be treated because their triggering factors are then firmly anchored to the human genome’ within the quote marks attributed to Prof Banks. Actually this is an unattributed statement from the website Naturstoff-Medizin.de and makes absolutely no sense whatsoever at any level. As there is no currently known mechanism for mRNA from vaccines to get into the nucleus or the human genome (see the scenario above), nothing is ‘firmly anchored to the human genome’. And arguably, many cancers arise out of changes to the human genome, and are eminently treatable.  

The text goes on to declare, ‘They don’t say you’ll automatically be damaged by any vaccinated person you come in contact with, every person is different. The spike mRNA serum has the ability to force your body’s cells to create modified pathogens and infect people around you. Moreover, actual nano-particles inside vaccines can attach to any cell in your body and inject a new RNA sequence and transform it into a bioengineered pathogenic spread cell.’

This section contains so many misunderstandings that it’s hard to know where to start. I don’t know what mRNA serum is unless simply a liquid containing mRNA. It carries the information to ‘trick’ your body into manufacturing a single antigen in the form of a viral spike protein. I think the writer is confusing an antigen and a pathogen. If you get hay fever from pollen, the pollen is an antigen, but not a pathogen.

‘… actual nano-particles inside vaccines‘. ‘Lipid nanoparticles in COVID-19 vaccines [is] the new mercury to antivaxxers.’ The technical definition of ‘nanoparticles’ is based solely on size and relates to particles less than 100 nanometers in diameter (1 nanometer = 10⁻⁹ metre, i.e. one billionth of a metre). So yes, the mRNA vaccine particles are nanoparticles, though why that should be considered ominous when vast swathes of the science of Microbiology concerns themselves with natural nanoparticles, is inexplicable.

The purpose of an mRNA vaccine is to persuade our cells to absorb the vaccine mRNA (not by direct cellular injection). I don’t know the meaning of the phrase ‘bioengineered pathogenic spread cell’ other than the cells which absorb the mRNA from the vaccine are not then ‘pathogenic’ nor do they ‘spread’ as there is no mechanism for the mRNA to ‘spread’, nor for the spike protein to replicate after its manufacture in the cell which absorbed the vaccine mRNA.

The writer continues that ‘people are unaware of all the biological consequences not only during the vaccination process inside their bodies but also of the damage it could do to other people close to them.’ I know of no mechanism nor any evidence of how any part or product of an mRNA vaccine can be transmitted from one person to another (apart from the relief of being at vastly lower risk of dying from Covid-19). In other words, not only does it not happen, I can see no way it could happen. There is nothing in the mRNA vaccine transmissible between people , nor any mechanism of transmission.

i.e. nothing to share – no way to share it!

‘The [vaccine] manufacturers didn’t need to isolate covid-19, in fact it hasn’t been isolated from any laboratory yet. The vaccines are based on reproducing the code gene sequence of this new virus.’  It is correct that the initial PCR tests and mRNA vaccine development is based on genetic codes of the SARS-Cov-2 virus originally published by Chinese labs in January 2020. But where does the writer think that those codes came from if not from analyzing the virus? And do they believe that they haven’t been checked throughout the world against virus stocks? Repeatedly? How would labs detect virus variants without this? The CDC, for one, freely advertise the fact that they have stocks of SARS-Cov-2 virus for research purposes.

‘This is true eugenics, laboratory made,’ the writer continues, ‘a biological product that injects into your cells a corrupted viral sequence code that forces your cells to produce poisonous and contagious molecules whose biogenesis has been modified to infect other organisms. Many other diseases beyond cancer can erupt due to DNA genes, other damage can result from this genetic manipulation. This is a weapon of biological warfare and we need to properly inform the people who are aligning to receive the injection.

Once vaccinated these people will contaminate everyone around them, and become carriers of walking diseases. When the spike protein produced by the mRNA vaccine in the bodies of the vaccinated are released out of their bodies and spread around them hitting healthy people it will be a big new plague for public health. Although the damage caused so far by the mRNA vaccine has been well investigated and investigated, no one can say exactly what else the introduction of this biologically modified genetic material into the human body will entail over time (probably years).’

The best I can do is rephrase the last blast as follows:

‘This is a laboratory made genetic sequence based on synthetically constructed viral mRNA which tricks human cells to produce a single viral protein which is harmless on its own. It never interacts with human DNA. Recipients of the vaccine should be properly informed (and not misinformed) about the science behind the technology. Once vaccinated, after a short period, people will be 90% or so safe from infection from others around them. As no complete virus or other pathogen is involved in the process at any stage, vaccinees will have nothing with which to infect or contaminate those around them other than with social freedom and responsible health.

As mRNA vaccines have been thoroughly researched and their risks are continually exhaustively evaluated, it is highly likely that future generations will thank those of us who were involved in this as recipients of these initial vaccines for future breakthroughs in several fields of medicine including viral disease control and new cancer treatments.’

A postscript about sources.

The writer refers to other articles available on the web such as the website of ‘LifesiteNews’, in which there is much, much more (for example supposed or theoretical links with Alzheimer’s and other neurological disorders, ADE, prions, ‘pericarditis, shingles, pneumonia, blood clots in the extremities and brain, Bell’s Palsy, vaginal bleeding and miscarriages ’ ) each of which is either inaccurate, exaggerated or grossly misleading.

In a good illustration of how plausible misinformation is constructed, much of this can be found on a website misleadingly named, ‘America’s Frontline Doctors’. It turns out that ‘America’s Frontline Doctors’, which has been described as an American right-wing political organization, was formed as  an ultra conservative group of seven American doctors with affiliations to the Republican Tea Party Patriots organisation. The founder, Simone Gold, and the group’s communications director John Strand were both arrested in connection with the January 6 storming of the United States Capitol building.

And the author of the LifeSiteNews article referenced by the Facebook piece I have been considering is Patrick Delaney whose scientific qualifications for writing the piece are ‘two master’s degrees in sacred theology’.

However, as a final note, I would agree with one thing the author of the Facebook post writes: ‘[We] need to properly inform people who are lining up to receive the injection.’

I recommend my blog!

I think I have delved far enough down the rabbit hole for now…

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