Earlier this month, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, announced that they were winding-down the development of mRNA vaccines under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). This included the cancellation of $500 million dollars of funding already promised for mRNA vaccine development projects.
Physicians and scientists responded with dismay and alarm. “This act stifles scientific innovation and our country’s ability to react swiftly to future pandemics and public health emergencies—putting millions of lives at risk.”
I agree. mRNA vaccines represent the cutting edge of vaccine technology.
Pulling funding from the most effective technology of the day is like saying, after seat belts became widely available in cars (1960s), that we should stop working on any technology to make driving safer. If we had stopped with seat belts, we would not have crumple zones, air bags, lane assist, blind spot detection systems. . . you get the picture. Seat belts are good. Wear them! But let’s keep doing the work necessary to make driving even safer.
Similarly, old vaccine strategies like whole-virus vaccines that Kennedy wants to go back to are good. Let’s use them where they have been effective. But let’s keep doing the work necessary to make vaccines even more effective. That work must include mRNA vaccines.
How do vaccines work?
When you are infected with a pathogen, your body’s immune system clears the infection. The immune response involves many different types of cells and the formation of memory B and T cells. Memory B and T cells are long-lived. If you are infected by the same pathogen a second (or third or fourth…) time, memory cells respond more quickly and more robustly than B and T cells can respond in a first infection.
Vaccines mimic that first infection. But rather than the pathogen eliciting that first response, a vaccine, composed of a dead or weakened pathogen or part of a pathogen does. Your immune system responds as if you were infected with the real pathogen. Your immune system clears the vaccine and your body forms memory B and T cells. When you are vaccinated, against measles, for example, you develop long-lived memory B and T cells. If you are then infected with the measles virus, those memory B and T cells respond quickly and robustly—so much so that you probably don’t even know you were infected.
mRNA vaccines do not contain the pathogen in a dead or weakened form. Rather they consist of a molecule of messenger RNA (mRNA) synthesized in the laboratory and encased in a bubble of protective fat.
Your cells make mRNA or messenger RNA every day. mRNA carries segments of your DNA code to little molecular machines in your cells called ribosomes. Ribosomes are protein synthesizing factories. They decode the information in mRNA (made by your cells or in an mRNA vaccine) to make proteins.
In the case of the COVID19 vaccine, the mRNA contains the instructions for ribosomes to synthesize the Spike protein of the virus. The Spike protein is found on the outside of the SARS-COV-2 virus which uses it to enter your cells and set up an infection.
Your immune system responds to the synthesized Spike protein, clears it from your body and raises memory B and T cells which respond quickly and robustly if you are infected with the actual SARS-COV-2 virus. The Spike protein alone cannot cause COVID19.
The injected mRNA and the Spike protein made as a result are short-lived. The immune response clears the Spike protein in a week or two and mRNA is notoriously unstable. It clears even more quickly. (In fact, when you work with mRNA in the lab, you need to wear double gloves, change them frequently, specially treat your glass and plasticware, etc.—all because mRNA is so fragile!)
If you got the COVID19 vaccine, you may have felt sick. So did I. Lethargy, fever, chills, lack of appetite, and body aches—often referred to as flu-like symptoms—are the first sign of many illnesses including flu and COVID19, but also polio and HIV infection. The symptoms are similar in so many infections because they are not caused by the infectious agent directly. They are the result of your innate immune system.
The innate immune system acts quickly but lacks the specificity or memory we think of when we think of B and T cells (part of the adaptive immune system). The innate immune system keeps infectious agents from getting the upper hand while the adaptive immune system takes the 7-14 days it needs to respond. If you felt sick after getting the COVID19 vaccine, or any vaccine, be grateful. Your adaptive immune system has recognized the vaccine and is responding. The vaccine is working!
On a side note, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett-Helairee, the scientist primarily responsible for developing the COVID19 vaccine, is not only a brilliant scientist but she is also a Christian. Jim Stump interviewed her for Biologos last year. It’s worth a listen!
mRNA vaccine technology is so exciting because they can be produced much more rapidly than whole-virus vaccines or protein-based vaccines. And it allows scientists to respond to rapidly evolving pathogens, like SARS-COV-2 or influenza. This is nimble technology!
Halting or slowing mRNA vaccine development is a mistake. In an interview with NPR, Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota expert on infectious diseases and pandemic preparations said, “I don’t think I’ve seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business.”
We are slowing research and development of our best technology right when new evidence suggests that the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus can spread through the air at long distances and China is reporting growing numbers of chikungunya virus infections.
But pathogens are not the only target of mRNA vaccine technology. mRNA vaccines are being researched extensively in the fight cancer with exciting potential. More than 120 trials are currently underway as treatments for lung, breast, prostate, melanoma, pancreatic, and brain tumors.
I’m deeply concerned about the funding cuts for mRNA vaccines. I’m even more concerned about the misinformation Kennedy is spreading about mRNA and other vaccines. He misquotes scientific papers, misinterprets data, misrepresents findings.
Misinformation spreads faster than any virus, but truth has the power to protect us. Each time we fact-check before sharing, listen with empathy, and point others toward reliable science, we help stop the spread of confusion. The story of mRNA vaccines is not just one of scientific innovation—it’s a reminder that public health depends on all of us.
19 Responses
You have a remarkable teaching gift, taking complex principles and making them understandable! Thank you Sara!
What is being called into question here is trust itself. There is a battle here, not for truth but for the marketing of “truth.” Not just science, but law, journalism, history, economics, election processes, higher education, and diplomacy are all being systematically dismantled so that power can be secured.
If I have to choose between trust in the motivations of scientists vs. politicians/ bloggers/ oligarchs/TV evangelists, I will trust scientists every time. Science is constantly reconstructing while a dictator knows only how to deconstruct and demand. A convenient lie is apparently more attractive than a pathway to truth.
Once again, Sara, thank you. The willfull destructiveness along with the “misinformation” (lying, deceit) of this administration reminds me of the scientist Weston in C. S. Lewis’s PERELANDRA.
Wow! Thank you Sara!
Thank you , Sara!
Sara, thank you. Yes, the disinformation spreads faster than any virus, and so your intelligent writing about this, and your quiet reason helps me greatly.
I totally agree!
Do you have any quick direction for me in terms of people I meet who describe getting the Covid vaccine and then still getting Covid or tell their stories of taking the vaccine and then having other, sometimes serious, health issues appear.
I really don’t know how to respond because it’s their story and their experience but if you have any resources or guidance that might help me to respond more effectively, please let me know!
I always respond with sympathy to what they have experienced, but wish that I had some ability to speak more intelligently about the vaccine at moments like that.
Thank you!
Great question
To be clear, this is a friendly question. During the worst of Covid, I was working as a chaplain in a tier one hospital.
I watched many people die, needless and tragic and painful deaths because they took Donald Trump’s advice about how to handle Covid.
I maintained then, and continue to maintain now, that we should all just take extra and reasonable care. If not a vaccine, then a mask. To do nothing (faith over fear) is to be careless and foolish against the reality of disease. Nothing is 100% effective, but I believe we all at least have to try with a good attitude and with a good sense of intelligence and reason.
So my question is a supportive one.
Ok, but still a great question. 😉
As for the deaths you saw, in all likelihood, they were were the consequences of people with co-morbidities who were given Remdesivir and then put on ventilators.
It’s a bit of a stretch to blame Trump, but whatever. He was, unfortunately, following the advice of the “experts”, many of whom turned out to be wrong at best, and charlatans more likely.
One of the charlatans was Francis Collins, who many around here hold in high regard. His vile dishonesty about pangolins and his fecklessness in shutting down the Great Barrington declaration should never be forgotten.
But again, does the author have an answer to people who have myocarditis, turbo cancers, or any other health problems?
Yes, there are concerns Marty.
Yes, there were people with comorbidities… Which would only argue that the rest of us should be diligent and wise and cautious and sacrificial
They were a great many others who were young and strong. Yet they were misinformed and deceived.
It is not a stretch to blame Donald Trump. He stood up on a daily basis and spouted wild theories. He could’ve used his position to urge restraint and caution, but instead he urged arrogance and carelessness and things that were surely stupid. He was ridiculous if it weren’t so tragic.
People were also misinformed by their churches and their pastors who delivered weird misinterpretations of the Bible
I met a few Christians as they were dying, who were dignified even as they suffered because of their deception.
I encountered a great many more who were almost insane with the wildness of their beliefs. They were violent in their speaking, and they spit on people trying to help them.
You can imagine what you want, but that’s what I saw an experienced
I believe the vaccines are a great gift of God and we should know everything we can about them, which this article helped me do
I occasionally read “The Cat in the Hat Comes Back” to my grandkids. I think I just read Keith #1, Keith #2, and Keith #3! Are there more?
Thanks for the question, Keith.
Vaccines, like most of life (flying in an airplane, eating at restaurants, etc.) have risks. Some of the health issues people describe are real. For me, and I’m not sure this would be convincing to someone suffering from a real side effect of a vaccine, it’s an issue of relative risk. Most, if not all (I don’t know of any but some may exist) of the health consequences of the COVID19 vaccine are also risks of getting COVID19. And the risks of suffering the health consequence is greater if a person gets COVID19 than the vaccine for it. So relative risk falls on the side of getting the vaccine.
And vaccines are not 100% effective. The immune system of the person getting the vaccine has to respond to it in the right way. Each person’s immune system is unique based on their own genetics. So it’s not surprising that the effecacy differs from person to person. Some people who get the vaccine will get the disease. The vaccine won’t work for them. But it works for most and probably, for those who still get the disease, the disease will be milder than it would have been without the vaccine.
Hopefully this helps!
The CDC’s website on COVID19 vaccines includes links to primary studies on safety of the vaccine and side effects: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safety/vaccines/covid-19.html
– Sara
So, basically, you gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette. Except, in this case, the omelette didn’t turn out so well. And there are many, many broken eggs.
Count me out.
Maybe, to be a loving Christian, one should call out liars (Dr. Collins), resist tyranny (shutting down churches but not strip clubs), and be gracious to people who make alternative health choices than you.
In other words, speak truth to power.
Dr. Tolsma, you’ve written extensively here about COVID and the vaccines. Are you curious, and do you have ideas of where the virus originated?
It is interesting how much lies or misinformation can look like a virus that makes society sick. The vaccine or truth is often harder to ingest. It asks more of us and requires that we change or respond. It sometimes can make us feel bad (I can’t believe I fell for that lie!), but it’s necessary. And the more memory B and T cells I build up, the more nimble and capable I am to respond the next misinformation or the next version of it. Keep bringing the truth, keep sharing this memory B and T cells of good information.
Thank you, Sara! I’m awestruck by science’s revelation of the intelligence that went into our creation.
Having practiced Family Medicine during the COVID 19 pandemic, I recall the sheer joy of receiving my first vaccine already at the end of 2020. It was such a blessing.
Love the RJ and this important post. Thanks Sara.
Sara, thanks for this primer; mRNA is indeed an elegant and important approach to vaccination. It’s important, however, to not dismiss criticism and questioning. As you know, scientific method requires questioning, hypothesis, testing, and vigorous debate. An example would be ongoing assessment of side effects. Myocarditis in young men appears to be a rare but potentially serious side effect. Let’s eliminate that concern through continuing study and debate.
We can learn lessons from the introduction of Covid vaccine. Questioning, even by eminent scientists, led to censorship and silencing. A single example would be the assertion that Covid may have originated in a laboratory. This hypothesis was met by a concerted effort to “shut down “ this idea. Today the consensus is that, indeed, the virus likely escaped from a lab. Government officials were clearly afraid of open debate. Dr Fauci’s assertion that “I AM the science,” is completely antithetical to the scientific method. The public, though not all scientists, were perceptive of a fearful and defensive rather than an open approach. The result was a backlash against mandatory measures.
I regard Robert Kennedy’s desire to defund research as a mistake. But his actions will hopefully result in open discussion and debate. For many people, terms like “misinformation” and “fact checking” are code for “This is how you must think.” Open discussion cannot include the assertion that, “I have the facts,” without showing real evidence. Your blog, by the way, represents an example of healthy debate.
Readers of “The Twelve” are not immune (pun intended) from these considerations. Theology, like biology, is susceptible to group-think, to the politics of academia, and to external pressures. Considerations of how to avoid an anti-science reaction apply equally to theology. This blog provides an important forum for debate, but the debate should be open and welcoming, not censorious or presumptive of owning the truth. Thanks again, Sara.
Excellent reply George. I concur heartily with your sentiments!
The assertion that Covid may have, and now likely did originate in a laboratory is more a political question than a scientific one. Yes, I am sure there are scientific benefits if the lab origin can be confirmed and if that lab can provide information helpful to understanding the virus and/or developing treatments. But my sense of those asking this question were not basing the question on the scientific merits. Rather, they wanted to prove the lab theory so that we could blame China for starting all of this. That is now a political question, one that is messy and delicate because of the international politics involved. But it got mixed into the scientific questions of “how do we get the pandemic under control and how do we treat the virus?” and deeply muddied the scientific waters with political sidetracks.
I am teaching a seminar this semester “Science, Anti-Science, and the Christian Faith.” We are reading Collins’ most recent book and “The God of Monkey Science: People of Faith in a Modern Scientific World” by J.K. Ray. I just added this essay to my syllabus. Thanks, Sara.