[You have a “better chance of becoming Spider-Man” than being
harmed by DNA from COVID vaccines]
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NO, COVID MRNA VACCINES WON’T DAMAGE YOUR DNA  
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Tanya Lewis
January 4, 2024
Scientific American
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_ You have a “better chance of becoming Spider-Man” than being
harmed by DNA from COVID vaccines _

Florida surgeon general Joseph Ladapo calls for halting the use of
COVID mRNA vaccines over unsupported safety concerns,

 

On Wednesday Florida’s state surgeon general Joseph Ladapo called
for stopping the use of messenger RNA–based COVID vaccines
[[link removed]],
citing—without convincing evidence—concerns about DNA fragments
from the vaccines entering the human genome. Experts, including those
at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, say the claims are unfounded
and that this warning could cause great harm by preventing people from
getting a potentially lifesaving vaccine.

Last December Ladapo sent a letter
[[link removed]] to
the commissioner of the FDA and the director of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention in which he questioned the safety of
DNA fragments in Pfizer’s and Moderna’s COVID mRNA vaccines. The
letter laid out unfounded concerns about these fragments entering
human cell nuclei in the presence of the lipid nanoparticles that are
used to deliver the mRNA to cells. He also stated concerns about DNA
contamination from a virus called simian virus 40 (SV40). Ladapo
suggested that if such DNA were to be integrated into cells, it could
activate cancer-causing genes or cause chromosomal instability.

That month the FDA said in a response letter
[[link removed]] that, “based on a
thorough assessment of the entire manufacturing process, FDA is
confident in the quality, safety, and effectiveness of the COVID-19
vaccines.”

Many scientists have dismissed the risks Ladapo asserted. They include
Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia, who serves on an FDA advisory committee for
the COVID vaccines. The way mRNA vaccines are made does result in 
small amounts of DNA in the final product, Offit says—but that’s
true of any vaccine grown in cells, including the measles and
chickenpox vaccines. “There are trace quantities” of DNA
(billionths to trillionths of a gram) per vaccine dose, “which is
utterly and completely harmless for several reasons,” he says.

To make an mRNA vaccine against COVID, scientists start with circular
pieces of DNA called plasmids that contain a gene for the spike
protein of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease. The plasmids
are amplified into billions of copies inside of bacteria, and
chemicals are then added to release them from the bacteria. Enzymes
are used to cut the plasmids into linear pieces of DNA that encode the
spike protein, and a different enzyme converts that DNA into mRNA.
Another enzyme is added to chop any remaining DNA into tiny harmless
fragments.

In order to enter human cell nuclei, any such residual viral DNA would
first have to enter the cell’s main compartment, or cytoplasm, which
normally keeps foreign DNA out. Next it would have to cross the
nuclear membrane; this would be impossible without an access signal,
which these fragments don’t have, Offit notes. The residual DNA
would also have to integrate into the nuclear DNA, which would require
DNA-cutting enzymes that aren’t present in the mRNA vaccine. The
chances that mRNA vaccination would in any way affect your DNA “are
zero,” Offit says.

This is not the first time Ladapo has questioned the safety of COVID
mRNA vaccines
[[link removed]].
In 2022 he recommended against children age 17 or younger getting the
vaccines, falsely claiming that the shots didn’t help and might even
cause harm.

Scientist and physician Robert Malone also made unfounded claims about
the supposed dangers of DNA fragments in mRNA vaccines altering human
DNA when he testified in a November 2023 committee hearing
[[link removed]] held by Republican
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

Vaccination Dramatically Lowers Long Covid Risk
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SHANNON HALL [[link removed]]

The Benefits of Vaccinating Kids against COVID Far Outweigh the Risks
of Myocarditis
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TANYA LEWIS [[link removed]]

Offit points out that we encounter much greater quantities of foreign
DNA all the time from the bacteria we’re exposed to and the plants
and animals we eat. In his statement on Wednesday, Ladapo claimed that
people can get other COVID vaccines that don’t use mRNA. Yet the
only alternative in the U.S., made by the company Novavax
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is grown in moth cells—which also contain DNA. “The minute you say
the word DNA, people think, ‘Oh, my God, there’s DNA in this? Is
that going to affect my DNA?’” Offit says. “But you have better
chance of becoming Spider-Man” than being harmed by DNA from the
COVID vaccines.

As for the concerns about simian virus 40, the COVID vaccines do not
contain SV40 proteins or any genetic material encoding them. Although
SV40 was a contaminant in early polio vaccines
[[link removed]], it has not
been shown to cause cancer in humans.

Offit acknowledges that any vaccine or medicine comes with potential
risks as well as benefits. The Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine was
found to cause rare and sometimes fatal blood clots in some people and
was removed from the market. The mRNA vaccines, while largely safe,
come with a small but nonzero risk of myocarditis, primarily in
teenage boys and young men. The risk of myocarditis from COVID itself
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higher, however, and COVID-related myocarditis tends to be more
severe. For those concerned about mRNA vaccines, there are other
vaccines available, such as the one made by Novavax.

Offit says the benefits of vaccination still clearly outweigh any
risks. He recommends the primary series for everyone aged six months
and older. He says getting the booster is less important for healthy
young people, who are not the highest-risk group for hospitalization.
People older than age 65 and people of any age with underlying health
conditions that put them at risk of severe disease—including
pregnant people—should definitely be up to date on their vaccine, he
says. Additionally, recent studies have shown that receiving a
vaccination followed by one or more boosters greatly reduces the risk
of developing long COVID
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“There’s no avoiding risk,” Offit says. “People say, ‘I’m
not going to risk that vaccine.’ Okay, so you’re going to risk the
disease. Realize that that’s the risk you’re taking.”

_TANYA LEWIS
[[link removed]] is a senior
editor covering health and medicine at Scientific American. She
writes and edits stories for the website and print magazine on topics
ranging from COVID to organ transplants. She also co-hosts Your
Health, Quickly on Scientific American's podcast Science,
Quickly and writes Scientific American's weekly Health & Biology
newsletter. She has held a number of positions over her seven years
at Scientific American, including health editor, assistant news
editor and associate editor at Scientific American Mind. Previously,
she has written for outlets that include Insider, Wired, Science
News, and others. She has a degree in biomedical engineering from
Brown University and one in science communication from the University
of California, Santa Cruz._

_More by Tanya Lewis
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_Scientific American
[[link removed]] covers
the most important and exciting research, ideas and knowledge in
science, health, technology, the environment and society. It is
committed to sharing trustworthy knowledge, enhancing our
understanding of the world, and advancing social justice._

_Founded 1845, Scientific American is the oldest continuously
published magazine in the United States. It has published articles by
more than 200 Nobel Prize winners._

* Science
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* COVID-19
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* mRNA
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* vaccines
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