Common COVID-19 vaccine myths, and why they are wrong – Joplin Globe

If you are active on social media, or interact with other humans in any capacity, youve likely heard some shocking, almost unbelievable information about the COVID-19 vaccine such as every dose contains a microchip to track anyone foolish enough to accept the jab.

Although several of these tall tales are easy for the average person to brush off as fiction, other myths are more difficult to dispute if you dont hold the title of medical professional or biologist.

While its nearly impossible to debunk every bit of COVID-19 vaccine disinformation, there are certain myths that keep popping up over and over that many health care workers have been working tirelessly to expose as false.

Below are several of these common misconceptions, disputed by health care professionals.

Myth: The COVID-19 vaccine was developed too quickly you cant trust it.

Weve known a lot about the virus for years and years, so the research done on the virus and the research done on the vaccination had been done for nearly 20 years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Dr. Debra Buckland-Coffey, director for clinical services at Marine Corps Headquarters for Health Services in Washington, D.C.

The coronavirus vaccine started being developed from 2002 to 2004 when the SARS coronavirus emerged in China, Buckland-Coffey explained. Because leaders saw its potential to spark a global pandemic, vaccines started to be developed. This vaccine effort was picked up again from 2012 to 2014 when the MERS epidemic took place.

Dr. Sarah Neal, a nursing professor at Anderson University in Indiana and lead of the universitys COVID-19 Task Force, explained that since this research had already been conducted for other forms of coronavirus, researchers were essentially picking up where they left off.

We did not begin at ground zero, she said. All of this has been in the works for a long, long time.

Myth: You shouldnt get the COVID-19 vaccine until its FDA-approved.

The Pfizer vaccine now has full U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, and Buckland-Coffee said that delays in FDA full approval of other vaccines shouldnt deter people from getting vaccinated.

FDA approval takes a length of time. It takes many, many steps to ensure that we have ultimate safety before a vaccine has the full approval, said Buckland-Coffey. The coronavirus vaccine just hasnt had enough time to have the full approval.

The COVID-19 vaccine has had just as many studies done as would be expected with any other vaccine its even been studied and tested for safety more closely than several other vaccines that are FDA-approved, she noted.

Myth: I dont need the vaccine because I already have had COVID-19 and have the antibodies.

This is one Buckland-Coffey said she hears regularly. As far as COVID-19 vaccine research goes, this is one of the areas where the answer isnt crystal clear.

There are still many studies being done on antibody levels of people who have had the vaccine versus people who have gotten the virus, looking at infection rates and looking at the delta variant.

What we know is if you get the actual virus, your immunity isnt going to be as robust as if you get the vaccine, because when you get a virus, your immune system is down because you have a virus, so youre building an immune response with an already weakened immune system, she said.

Whereas when you get a vaccine, the whole point is to give you only the part of the virus that you need to fight to keep from getting it just a tiny little fragment of the virus so that your immune system can recognize it, she continued. So you do see a much more robust immune response with the vaccine than you do with the virus.

Myth: The COVID-19 vaccine enters your cells and changes your DNA.

An online article in Childrens Health Defense, a nonprofit of which famed anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is chairman, alleges that recent studies show that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines (meaning the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines) could change a persons DNA.

Neal said thats simply not possible.

That cant happen because the vaccine does not go into the nucleus of the cell where the DNA exists, said Neal. It can enter the surrounding cytoplasm, and thats where it begins its work with the immune system.

Buckland-Coffey agrees because the COVID-19 vaccine is a messenger RNA vaccine, theres no way for it to actually get into ones DNA.

The way messenger RNA works is, it doesnt even go into the actual double-stranded DNA of your body, she said. It helps to encode for proteins, which in this case would be proteins that would help you to have immunity to the coronavirus.

Myth: People with the COVID-19 vaccine still get infected with the delta variant, so its pointless.

Although the infection rate for vaccinated individuals is significantly lower than for those who are unvaccinated, when it comes to vaccine effectiveness, Buckland-Coffey said the main goal isnt to keep people from contracting the virus at all.

Instead, the priority of the vaccine is to keep them from dying from the virus or getting severely ill.

We can say, with over 90% effectiveness, that the coronavirus vaccine is going to keep you from getting very ill with the virus and that includes a delta variant with the data that we have so far now.

Myth: The COVID-19 vaccine gives you COVID-19.

The COVID vaccine is not a live virus. Its not even a complete virus, said Buckland-Coffey. It has a very small section of the COVID genome that allows your body to recognize and respond.

Then when it is exposed to the real complete virus, you respond to that tiny segment and kill the virus.

Myth: The side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine are awful its not worth it.

Reactions to vaccines are your body doing what its supposed to do with its immune response, Buckland-Coffey said. Most people who do have side effects from the vaccine, they last at most 24 hours, and they feel a little crummy.

I have known people to get vaccine side effects that maybe put them in bed for a day. Ive not known anyone to die from vaccine side effects and Ive had a lot of patients die from coronavirus.

Neal agrees.

Its worth having that 24 hours of discomfort to prevent a hospital stay and disability.

For some, reported blood clots in vaccinated individuals have been a major cause of fear and hesitancy about the vaccine. According to Buckland-Coffey, the concern is not unfounded, but it is not worthy of the fear it has drummed up.

Taking birth control is more likely to cause you to have a blood clot than getting the coronavirus vaccine, she said. We dont have a lot of people being afraid to take birth control.

Myth: The COVID-19 vaccine affects womens fertility.

That just absolutely has no basis, Buckland-Coffey said. I dont even have a better way to respond to that, other than that there is literally no data to suggest that anyones fertility is affected by the COVID vaccination.

The Vaccine Education Center at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, a member of the World Health Organization Vaccine Safety Net, agrees.

The rumors related to COVID-19 vaccines affecting fertility are unfounded, its website says. They are not affecting hormone levels, nor are they traveling throughout the body to other parts of the body.

As such, there would not be a biological reason to expect that reproductive functionality of either males or females would be negatively affected by COVID-19 vaccination now or in years to follow.

Myth: Vaccines cause autism.

This myth is far from new its one that has been propagated for decades, Neal explained.

It was based on a position in the early 90s. There was a study of 10 to 12 kids, and there was money involved, she said. We know through lots and lots of studies that have been done since that time that there is absolutely no correlation. and those studies have involved in excess of 3 million children.

Buckland-Coffey echoed Neals assessment.

Theres simply no real science behind autism being caused by a vaccine.

Myth: The COVID-19 vaccine was developed with controversial substances.

Theres nothing controversial about any of the substances that are within it, said Buckland-Coffey. While every vaccine is going to have preservatives and a lot of scientific-sounding names that are really long and hard to pronounce, thats just the nature of vaccines.

Neal pointed out that, although there are no aborted fetuses in the actual vaccine, as some have claimed, some people are concerned about the embryonic stem cells used in the research.

I understand that people want to avoid any kind of medical product that used embryonic stem cells, she said, but if they make that stance, they have to understand that they then could not receive care for heart attacks, Parkinsons disease or Alzheimers, acute lung injuries it would be almost impossible to use any kind of therapeutic if they held that stance.

Solid tumor care for cancer patients also utilizes stem cell research, she noted.

Say you end up with a brain tumor ... Do you ask your physician before you begin treatment if there are any embryonic stem cell lines? Because the answer that youre going to find is yes most likely any care is going to come out of some kind of embryonic stem cell line.

Myth: The vaccine contains a microchip.

There are no microchips in the coronavirus vaccine, which was a very common misconception early on, said Buckland-Coffey. Im not sure where that one got started, but there are no microchips in the coronavirus vaccine. However, there are microchips in your iPhone that everyone carries around without any concern.

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Common COVID-19 vaccine myths, and why they are wrong - Joplin Globe