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What are mRNA vaccines and how do they work?
Vaccines help prevent infection by preparing the body to fight foreign invaders (such as bacteria, viruses, or other pathogens). All vaccines introduce into the body a harmless piece of a particular bacteria or virus, triggering an immune response. Most vaccines contain a weakened or dead bacteria or virus. However, scientists have developed a new type of vaccine that uses a molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA) rather than part of an actual bacteria or virus. Messenger RNA is a type of RNA that is necessary for protein production. Once cells finish making a protein, they quickly break down the mRNA. mRNA from vaccines does not enter the nucleus and does not alter DNA.
mRNA vaccines work by introducing a piece of mRNA that corresponds to a viral protein, usually a small piece of a protein found on the virus’s outer membrane. (Individuals who get an mRNA vaccine are not exposed to the virus, nor can they become infected with the virus by the vaccine.) By using this mRNA, cells can produce the viral protein. As part of a normal immune response, the immune system recognizes that the protein is foreign and produces specialized proteins called antibodies. Antibodies help protect the body against infection by recognizing individual viruses or other pathogens, attaching to them, and marking the pathogens for destruction. Once produced, antibodies remain in the body, even after the body has rid itself of the pathogen, so that the immune system can quickly respond if exposed again. If a person is exposed to a virus after receiving mRNA vaccination for it, antibodies can quickly recognize it, attach to it, and mark it for destruction before it can cause serious illness.
Like all vaccines in the United States, mRNA vaccines require authorization or approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before they can be used. Currently vaccines for COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, are the only authorized or approved mRNA vaccines. These vaccines use mRNA that directs cells to produce copies of a protein on the outside of the coronavirus known as the “spike protein”. Researchers are studying how mRNA might be used to develop vaccines for additional diseases.
What are mRNA vaccines and how do they work?: MedlinePlus Genetics
mRNA vaccines use a piece of mRNA that corresponds to a protein on a virus. Vaccines for COVID-19 are the only mRNA vaccines authorized or approved by the FDA.medlineplus.gov
The regulation of medicines and vaccines is a little-known but very important subject. Indeed, health products must undergo very strict controls, as a principle, in order to control their efficacy and safety profile.
The anti-COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are the first mRNA vaccines marketed. mRNA vaccines, which represent a new class of vaccine, should be subject to more controls than conventional vaccines because they are based on several new technologies [1]. Although incompletely defined, the mode of action of mRNA vaccines [2] should classify them as gene therapy products (GTP) [3]. But mRNAs as vaccines against an infectious disease have been excluded from GTP regulation by US and EU regulations [4]. No specific regulations existed before the year 2020 for mRNA vaccines. “The current guidelines either do not apply, do not mention RNA therapeutics, or do not have widely accepted definition” [5]. Regulatory agencies therefore had to adopt an emergency procedure to monitor the testing of these products, the rolling review. In rolling reviews, data are submitted and reviewed as they become available before the full data package is available and specific controls for this new platform have been requested [6].
The aim of this study is to compare the controls required by GTP regulations with those actually applied to mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Some of the controls required for GTPs were not required for mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, probably because of the pandemic emergency that required the rapid development of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Potential safety issues arising from the absence of these controls will be discussed. This is all the more urgent as manufacturers are planning to replace certain “classic” vaccines with mRNA vaccines [2], starting with influenza vaccines. Indeed, Sanofi is launching a clinical trial of the first mRNA-based seasonal flu vaccine candidate [7] and Moderna has many mRNA vaccines in clinical trials (COVID-19, influenza, human metapneumovirus, parainfluenzas, RSV, HCoV, CMV, EBV, HSV, varicella, herpes, HIV, Zika, Nipah), in particular a phase 3 trial of the flu vaccine [8].
A phase 1 clinical trial is being launched for an mRNA-LNP influenza vaccine [9]. For these flu vaccines, emergency approval should not apply and the requirement for these additional studies should not be exceeded.
In addition, cancer “vaccines” are being announced (e.g., Moderna and Merck are partnering in trials of mRNA-4157/V940, an anti-melanoma “vaccine” combined with Keytruda—a monoclonal antibody directed against the programmed cell death receptor, PD-1) that acts by enhancing the ability of the body’s immune system to detect and fight tumor cells, by blocking the interaction between PD-1 and its ligands, PD-L1 and PD-L2, thereby activating the anti-T cell response, particularly the antitumor response [10]).
We must be very vigilant about the term vaccine associated with therapeutic drugs, particularly with regard to the regulations that apply to them. These therapeutics are not vaccines against infectious diseases and must therefore continue to comply with GTP regulations.
mRNA: Vaccine or Gene Therapy? The Safety Regulatory Issues
COVID-19 vaccines were developed and approved rapidly in response to the urgency created by the pandemic. No specific regulations existed at the time they were marketed. The regulatory agencies therefore adapted them as a matter of urgency. Now that the ...www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
This is a difference in perspective. We can both emphasize different parts of that article. But what is it that you actually have a problem with? What is a vaccine?
I'm defining vaccine based on what it does. That's why I can accept a "new type" of vaccine. Respectfully, it seems like you're trying to define vaccine by HOW it does it. And therefore, you don't want to accept mRNA as a "new type".
I sympathize with you because I grew up with vegetarian parents. So we got our "meat" from the frozen veggies aisle. Vegetarian "meat" is literally made from soy. A "veggie burger" still contains the word burger even though a burger is defined as consisting of a beef patty.
veggie burger: a patty resembling a hamburger but made with vegetable protein, soybeans, etc., instead of meat.
in the same way that "vegetarian meat" is used to describe a thing based on taste and texture but is not meat. But the word "meat" is used so that people can relate to what it is, while still being truthful about what it's made from.
So if we say mRNA Vaccine... which we do... then what's the problem?
Isn't it true, that the problem, for most people, is that they simply never heard of mRNA vaccines prior to Covid? Let's be honest. I hadn't heard of it either, not that I keep on the cutting edge of biology or medical sciences because I don't and I don't know many people who do. So society's reaction was fear because here is a "new medical technology" mixed with "the government" because the government was paying for it. It was free. And so people's minds went to conspiracy theories about why the government might want to inject them; even though its not the government doing the injection or handling the mRNA vaccine. And we've also been primed by zombie shows like The Walking Dead where we might assume the cause is a virus but could as easily be some drug taken willingly. So let's just be honest about the backdrop of mRNA vaccines being introduced to the masses. But for the sake of context, what do the masses know about cold fusion? What do they know about Helion? Even if all of these advances come with press releases who is paying attention to them? And Vaccines are different because this is something we're putting into our bodies. We pay less attention to the food we eat. But vaccines... scare people.
The Long History of mRNA Vaccines | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
A look at how this vaccine technology has been in the works for decades.
So let's keep it 100. There was already an anti-vax movement. I know this, because my kids mom is one of them and so it affects my own kids even though both their parents are vaccinated. But the fear of vaccination didn't begin with mRNA.
Should We Worry About Metals in Vaccines?
This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette. Last time, we explored a specific concern voiced by a reader — namely, why we vaccinate babies for adult diseases like Hepatitis B. This week, we’ll look at another vaccine question. Why are there metals in vaccines? You will no doubt...
www.mcgill.ca
Nevermind the fact that we naturally consume metals in our foods and herbs. All it takes is the idea that a foreign "unknown" substance might be dangerous... that is enough to manufacture a fear-based response (ironically similar to how ideas go "viral") and now the idea has a life of its own that pulls in more and more people because of the fact that we all feel safety in numbers. So what do people do when they're afraid? I've seen people go on forums, just like this one, and tell perfect strangers not to "get the jab" because of their own fears of vaccines. Some people may only have a fear of Genetic Modification (like GMO foods) but others already had a fear of vaccines in general. The fact that they didn't know about mRNA (even though it was discovered in the early 60s) simply added to their fear of the government injecting them with something bad. So this is also where we typically hear the usual conspiracy theory suspects, like Population Control.
And of course, as black people, we still remember the Tuskeegee experiments (although that was when we got a placebo instead of the possible cure). But then we misremember the fact that penicillin was indeed the cure for syphilis so if we had actually gotten what they told us, it would have been a good thing. But what we were left with was distrust.
And during COVID, I literally saw white people going undercover acting like they were black just to tell black people on forums, not to go get the mRNA vaccine. Was it because they cared about us so much that they pretended to be us in an effort to save our lives? No. It was because (not all) those particular racist MFs were literally weaponizing ignorance and trying to kill us with disinformation. They saw an opportunity. Many whites weren't getting it either and many of those famous ones died while their vaccinated families lived. However, the people who were "warning us" were most likely fully and happily vaxed. They just didn't want us to be because they saw it as a way to legally have a hand in murdering us. And yes, there are people that comically racist that they would do it. When they weren't doing that these people would simply pretend to be black to get black people to vote for Trump. Covid simply gave them another use for their stolen identities.
Does that opposition mean mRNA is safe? No. What makes it safe is that the research is now old and has gone through decades of testing. It was already being used in Africa to fight ebola. Did we see Africans turning into 3-eyed mutant zombies? No. We just didn't know about it because we didn't have ebola in the US. But with a pandemic, everyone has it. And so there was finally an opportunity to show the US and other countries what mRNA vaccines were already able to accomplish. So yes, a pandemic becomes the catalyst to a new era in medical science and innovation because it brings funding and wider acceptance.
What's Next for the World's First HIV Vaccine?
The last attempt in a generation of HIV vaccine development ended in disappointment, but investigators are starting over because they believe the human body can make antibodies for HIV.
www.medscape.com
I mean what did people expect from the development of nanotechnology and cracking the human genome in 2003? That we weren't going to use it? That the only advances in technology we would actually use are foldable smart phones? Most vaccines are only even taken because of previous epidemics so why should it be any different today and how many people have to die just to convince the rest of us to take the vaccine?
