If you only have a few seconds, read these lines:
- On March 6, the National Auditor General and presidential candidate for the Federal Republican Meeting, Miguel Ángel Pichetto, stated during an interview that vaccines against COVID-19 can “reconfigure DNA” and “change its scheme.”
- This is false. COVID-19 vaccines, both messenger RNA and adenovirus-based, are safe and do not modify the human genome. checked He has already denied this statement on several occasions, which has no scientific support.
- This medium contacted Pichetto’s press sector and asked him about the recent studies on which the official was based. The response was 3 reports that at no time deal with the issue or ensure what the former national senator declared.
Last March 6, the General Auditor of the Nation and pre-candidate for president of the Federal Republican Meeting, Miguel Ángel Pichetto, gave an interview to the journalist Santiago Cúneo for the digital medium Canal 22 Web. There he declared that vaccines against COVID-19 can “reconfigure DNA” and “change its scheme”, according to alleged recent studies.
“I don’t know if they gave me water or if they gave me poison,” Pichetto said. And he added: “They gave us vaccines that you didn’t know what they were giving you (…) and they also gave them to young people, which can reconfigure their DNA. Now studies say that there may even be changes in the DNA blueprint.”.
However, this is false. COVID-19 vaccines, both messenger RNA and adenovirus-based, do not modify the human genome. checked He has already denied this statement on several occasions, which has no scientific support (see here, here, here y here).
In addition, this medium contacted Pichetto’s press sector and asked him about the recent studies on which the lawyer relied to make the statement. The response was 3 documents that at no time touched on the subject or ensured what the former national senator declared.
Vaccines do not modify the human genome
Both messenger RNA (Pfizer and Moderna) and viral vector (Sputnik V and AstraZeneca) vaccines against COVID-19 give instructions (genetic material) to our cells to begin generating protection against the coronavirus.
“Once the body mounts an immune response, it discards all the ingredients in the vaccine, just as it would discard any information that cells no longer need. This process is part of the normal functioning of the organism”, they explain on their website the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The genetic material provided by mRNA vaccines never enters the nucleus of the cell, which is where our DNA is housed. Therefore, they cannot modify our genome.
“mRNA vaccines do not modify our DNA”, explained a checked Yanina Petracca, director of the Degrees in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics at the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE).
And he added: “When we get vaccinated with this type of vaccine, our body only receives a specific instruction (mRNA) to make a protein from the SARS CoV-2 virus against which our immune system reacts and generates protection (antibodies) . This information only persists for a limited time in our cells and then naturally degrades without leaving traces. That is to say, in no case does it affect our genome”.
In the case of vaccines that use an adenovirus as a viral vector, they provide genetic material for our cells to generate protection against COVID-19. However, the viral vector does not have the necessary machinery to integrate its genetic material into our DNA, so it cannot alter our genome.
It is also false to say that “you did not know what they gave you”, as Pichetto stated. The composition of the vaccines approved in Argentina, as well as in other countries of the world (AstraZeneca, Sputnik, Sinopharm, Pfizer y modern)is public and there is no unknown ingredient in them.
as we count on this note, coronavirus vaccines are safe and effective, and have been a key tool in overcoming the pandemic. According to a study published in the scientific journal The Lancet Infectious Deseasevaccines prevented 20 million deaths worldwide in 2021.
What the alleged recent studies say
During the interview, Pichetto made reference to alleged recent studies that would indicate that vaccines “can change the DNA pattern.”
checked communicated with the Pichetto Press sector, from where they sent 3 documents as sources of the statement of the former senator of the Nation.
The first is an opinion piece (comment) -which was published last May in the scientific journal The Lancet- titled “Balance the risk and benefit of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in children”. Discussing the results of a French national study comparing rates of multisystem inflammatory syndrome and myocarditis after COVID-19 mRNA vaccines given to children 12-17 years of age with rates of multisystem inflammatory syndrome after COVID -19.
The analysis concludes: “Despite the fact that vaccines are associated with rare inflammatory complications, the risk-benefit ratio of vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 continues to favor vaccination, at least in the 12-17 age group. included in this study”. That is, it recommends vaccination in children.
He second text, titled “Acquisition of vaccines against COVID-19 in the EU”refers to the strategy carried out by the European Union to acquire vaccines during the pandemic. Unlike the first study, it does not even assess possible contraindications of the vaccines.
He latest report is titled “COVID-19 Vaccine Advance Purchase Agreements” and, as the same study points out, it is part of a broader campaign led by the Left in the European Parliament called #VaccineEquality (N. de la R: Equality of Vaccines). It is a call for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments to be treated as global commons accessible to everyone, everywhere.
That is to say, the issue that Pichetto dealt with in none of the 3 documents shared by the press sector of the former national senator to this medium is not stated or touched upon.
In conclusion, it is false that COVID-19 vaccines “can reconfigure DNA”, as Pichetto stated. The alleged recent studies mentioned by the presidential candidate do not support his statements. On the contrary, the scientific evidence is clear and compelling: vaccines are safe and effective and do not modify the human genome.