Antivaxxers claim that #RNA in #Moderna and #Pfizer #COVID19 #vaccines will “permanently alter your DNA” or even “make you transhuman.” Such claims rest on utter ignorance of the totality of molecular biology. Same as it ever was from antivaxxers.https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/rna-vaccines-against-covid-19-will-not-permanently-alter-your-dna/ …
-
-
Replying to @gorskon
Thank you. One question: Not a meaningful risk, but isn't there a non-zero chance of *any* RNA fragment being reverse transcribed, then integrated? Weren't many pseudogenes formed that way? (I mean, it would most likely be transcriptionally silent, but still non-zero.)
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @PYMundGenealogy @gorskon
Since the human genome doesn’t code for reverse transcriptase and integrase, I’d put this possibility at 0%.
1 reply 1 retweet 5 likes -
Replying to @KStateTurk @gorskon
Somewhat higher than absolute 0%, though, as mRNA-derived pseudogenes exist. (I dimly remember endogenous retroviruses being a factor?)
2 replies 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @PYMundGenealogy @gorskon
If this were true then we’d routinely observe non-retro viral gene integration into our genome all the time. I don’t believe this has ever been observed. Also the integrated retroviruses in our genome aren’t active or complete.
1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes -
Replying to @KStateTurk @gorskon
Well, there's a wide range between 'all the time' and 'not ever', and while safety-wise it's surely irrelevant, I imagine it's a micro-notch before 'not ever'. (There's nothing special about engineered mRNA's to spare them from what ever process integrates them, however rarely.)
2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @PYMundGenealogy @gorskon
Since virus infection occurs in humans and animals all the time, we would have surely observed non retroviral genes being integrated in the genomes of humans or animals by now. We haven’t. possibility remains 0%.
1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
Yep. I'd say that the chance of this happening is roughly on par with the chance that a 30C homeopathic remedy has a single molecule of original remedy in it—not zero, but so close to zero as to be functionally indistinguishable from zero.
-
-
Replying to @gorskon @KStateTurk
So relevant only on geological time scales, then, which thankfully isn't the recommended booster schedule for any vaccine...
0 replies 0 retweets 0 likesThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.