Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the highest public health official in the United States, recently claimed Certain religious groups avoid measles, mumps and the vaccine against rubella because it contains “aborted fetus debris“And” DNA particles “.
The United States has been facing its worst measles epidemics for years, with some 900 cases across the country and active epidemics in several states.
At the same time, Kennedy, secretary of the Ministry of Health and Social Services, continues to Erode confidence in vaccines.
So what can we do with his latest claims?
No fetal debris in the Ror vaccine
Kennedy said that “aborted fetus debris” in MMR vaccines is the reason why many religious refuse vaccination. He specifically referred to the Texas mennonites, a deeply religious community, which were Among the hardest by current measles epidemics.
Many vaccines operate using a small amount of an attenuated (weakened) form of a virus, or in the case of the ROR vaccine, attenuated forms of viruses that cause measles, mumps and rubella. This gives the immune system a safe opportunity to learn to recognize and respond to these viruses.
As a result, if a person is later exposed to real infection, their immune system can react quickly and effectively, preventing serious illness.
Kennedy's assertion on fetal debris specifically refers to the Rubella component of the ROR vaccine. The rubella virus is generally cultivated on a human cell line known as Wi-38which was initially derived from pulmonary tissue in a single elective abortion in the 1960s. This cell line has been used for decades and no new fetal fabric has been used since.
Certain vaccines for other diseasesLike chickenpox, hepatitis A and rage, were also made by cultivating viruses in fetal cells.
These cells are used not because of their origin, but because they provide a stable, safe and reliable environment to cultivate the attenuated virus. They only serve as a means of growth for the virus and they are not part of the final product.
You could consider cells as virus -producing factories. Once the virus is cultivated, it is extracted and purified as part of a rigorous process to meet strict safety and quality standards. What remains in the final vaccine is the virus itself and stabilizing agents, but not human cells, nor the fetal tissue.
The allegations on “fetal debris” in the vaccine are therefore false.
The main religions of the world should also be noted allow the use of vaccines Developed from derived cells at the origin of the fetal tissue when there are no alternative products available.
Are there DNA fragments in the ROR vaccine?
Kennedy said that the reluctance of mennonites to vaccinate stems from “religious objections” to what he described as “a lot of debris of aborted fetus and DNA particles” in the ROR vaccine.
This last affirmation, on the vaccine containing DNA particles, is technically true. Trace quantities of DNA fragments From the human cell lines used to produce the component of the rubella of the MMR vaccine, can remain even after purification.
However, with this assertion, there is an involvement that these fragments have a health risk. That's wrong.
Any DNA that can be present in this vaccine exists in extremely small quantities, is very fragmented and degraded, and is biologically inert-that is to say, It cannot harm.
Even if, hypothetically, intact DNA was present in the vaccine (which is not), it would not have the ability to harm. A common (but not founded) concern is that foreign DNA could integrate into a person's DNA and modify their genome.
The introduction of DNA into human cells in a way that leads to integration is very difficult. Even when scientists deliberately try to do so, for example, in gene therapyIt requires specific tools, special viral delivery systems and controlled conditions.
It is also important to remember that our bodies are Foreign DNA presentation Constantly, through food, bacteria and even our own microbiome. Our immune system regularly digests and eliminates this material without incorporating it into our genome.
This question has been widely studied over the decades. Several health authorities, including Australia Administration of therapeutic goodshave addressed disinformation concerning the perceived damage of residual DNA in vaccines.
In the end, the idea that DNA fragmented in a vaccine could cause genetic damage is false.
The bottom line
Despite what Kennedy you would make you believe, there are no fetal debris in the ROR vaccine and the traces of DNA fragments that may remain any health risk.
What evidence shows, however, is that vaccines like the ROR vaccine offer excellent protection against deadly and avoidable diseases, and have saved millions of lives Around the world.
Hassan Vally is an associate professor of epidemiology at Deakin University in Australia. This article is republished from The conversation Under a creative communs license. Read it original article. The opinions and opinions expressed in this comment are only those of the author.
