mRNA Vaccines are NOT Gene Therapy
That topic that is always falsely typed up as gospel reads via the anti-Covid and anti-vaccine crowds respectively — gene therapy. Today’s very short Medium article will go over this false claim and talk about the understanding of what gene therapy actually is (ps the Covid-19 vaccine are NOT gene therapy), please enjoy the read.
➡ What is gene therapy?
Gene therapy is a type of treatment that uses genetic material with the goal of changing the course of a disease and repairing or reconstructing defective genetic material. In gene therapy, genetic material from outside the body needs to get inside the cell nucleus (vaccines cannot enter the nucleus of a cell, more on this later). It is a therapeutic approach that is being investigated for the treatment of multiple diseases. (Source: https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/understanding/)
➡ Approved Cellular and Gene Therapy treatments
The most recognised FDA approved gene therapeutics so far is Luxturna, produced by Spark Therapeutics based in Philadelphia, USA. Luxturna treats an inherited disease that causes progressive vision loss and blindness, this product is used in patients with a mutation in the gene RPE65, Luxturna delivers a normal copy of RPE65 into the retinal cell within the eye, what this does is help the retinal cells convert light into electronic signals thus restoring vision.
(Luxturna: https://sparktx.com/press_releases/fda-approves-spark-therapeutics-luxturna-voretigene-neparvovec-rzyl-a-one-time-gene-therapy-for-patients-with-confirmed-biallelic-rpe65-mutation-associated-retinal-dystrophy/)
(Source of other gene therapy products so far: https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/cellular-gene-therapy-products/approved-cellular-and-gene-therapy-products)
➡ Why mRNA vaccines are not gene therapy
Vaccines make a harmless component of a pathogen, in order to trigger an immune response against the disease-causing pathogen, in the future, our immune system can recognise this pathogen and protect us from it. mRNA vaccines also create instructions for the creation of completely harmless spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2. Our immune system (same as the pathogen) would recognise the S-Protein as foreign and coordinate defences to stop the intruder and future infections that could take place.
mRNA vaccines can never change anyone’s DNA, mRNA and DNA are not the same, even though they are related molecules. mRNA isn’t the same molecule (only related), thus is cannot enter or change DNA. DNA is stored in the nucleus of our cells, mRNA vaccines cannot enter because the nucleus is like a locked door and a specific key is needed to enter and mRNA vaccines do not have this specific key. mRNA vaccines do their work outside of the cell within a space called the cytoplasm. The cell then breaks down and gets rid of the mRNA after it’s finished using the instruction to train our immune system.
(Source: https://www.nebraskamed.com/COVID/where-mrna-vaccines-and-spike-proteins-go)
➡ Conclusion
As we can see from the evidence-based information above, the false claims made by many people online about mRNA vaccines being gene therapy is completely false and this article alone proves that.
💥 Thanks for reading, Lawrence. Please consider a small contribution, in the form of a beer as all articles are created in my small amount of spare time: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/LawrenceRob