I’ve been hearing lately from friends and colleagues around the country concerned about whether the mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer can “permanently alter your DNA.”
Let us unpack how these vaccines work to prevent serious COVID-19 infection and why they can’t alter your DNA. And while the two mRNA vaccines are relatively new, the technology underlying them has been in development for over 20 years, which helps explain why we were able to mobilize and develop these vaccines so quickly.
After injection, the mRNA vaccine particles encounter immune system cells and deliver the message to start producing the spike protein, which puts the immune system into “high alert.” The natural virus – SARS-CoV-2 – uses the spike protein to attach itself to our cells to begin the process of viral replication.
The vaccines stimulate the immune system to start building an immune response by making antibodies against the spike protein, which is the first line of defense that protects us from the natural infection if we come into contact with it later. The short-term antibody response may be quick and last for several months (eg, humoral immunity), while the longer-term protection is related to other immune cells being activated in the presence of the virus (eg, cell-mediated immunity mediated by T and B-cells).
The mRNA vaccines do not enter the nucleus of the cell, so they cannot change your native DNA. After the mRNA vaccines deliver instructions to your cells, the body breaks them down and eliminates them.
Bottom line – there is no risk of the vaccine to alter your DNA.
Upper Black Eddy resident David Segarnick Ph.D. is senior vice president, Medical & Scientific Services, Evolution Health Group, Pearl River, N.Y., and assistant professor, Pharmacology, Physiology and Neuroscience, at Rutgers NJ Medical School, Newark, N.J.
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