“mRNA vaccines change your DNA.”
Speaking of mRNA vaccines, there are many misleading claims about how they actually work. mRNA stands for messenger RNA, a piece of genetic information that’s read by our cells’ machinery so they can create the proteins needed for various functions. mRNA vaccines deliver the instructions for producing the spike protein of the coronavirus, the key part of the virus that allows it to infect us. Once our own cells produce the spike protein, they display it on their surface, and this triggers an immune response. Unlike a true infection from the coronavirus, though, this spike protein can’t replicate or cause covid-19, but our immune system will remember it and become better at fighting off the real germ in the future.
Neither the spike proteins nor the mRNA used in the vaccine stay around forever in the body (the mRNA disintegrates within a day or two) and at no point is the DNA in our cells altered as a result.
