Re:Johnson and Johnson single-shot vaccine appears 66% effec...
by neuronic on Friday January 29, 2021 @07:09PM
(#25964577)
Please, stop posting smart sounding misinformation.
> mRNA technology is new, but not unknown. They have been studied for more than a decade. mRNA vaccines do not contain a live virus and do not carry a risk of causing disease in the vaccinated person. mRNA from the vaccine never enters the nucleus of the cell and does not affect or interact with a person's DNA.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/hcp/mrna-vaccine-basic...
Re:Johnson and Johnson single-shot vaccine appears 66% effec...
by dnautics on Friday January 29, 2021 @07:12PM
(#25964602)
I have a phd in biochemistry. I can tell you this is categorically wrong: "mRNA from the vaccine never enters the nucleus of the cell and does not affect or interact with a person's DNA"
It should say almost never. It's low enough for the risk to be worth it, but posting actually wrong absolute statements risks causing a backlash, the last year should have taught us all this basic condition of humanity
Re:Johnson and Johnson single-shot vaccine appears 66% effec...
by schrodinger on Friday January 29, 2021 @11:42PM
(#25966150)
Agreed that accuracy is important, and we're in sort of a safe space here on Hacker News, but at the same time I feel that the media's portrayal of vaccines so far has done us a disservice. "only 66% effective" may be accurate, but if it's 100% effective against hospitalization that should be the lede. It's also true that we have not proven that vaccines prevent asymptomatic spread, but that's not the same as saying they don't; they almost definitely do, and by being "scientifically accurate" we give rise to people thinking "hmm, this vaccine is only slightly better than a coin flip and I can still spread, what's the point." That's NOT TRUE! Again, all of these vaccines are nearly 100% effective against serious infection and almost definitely inhibit spread—that should be the headline!!!
Re:Johnson and Johnson single-shot vaccine appears 66% effec...
by bluGill on Friday January 29, 2021 @10:35PM
(#25965746)
RNA is a basic part of life. if what you say is possible, then life itself wouldn't be possible.
Sure, but this is different. Suppose a target cell happens to be expressing a retrotransposon that by chance binds to the mrna vaccine and integrates it into host dna in an inopportune spot, could cause elevated risk of cancer years from now. I think it's highly unlikely, and plan on getting an mrna vaccine myself but there are whole classes of side effects we can't simply rule out because "traditional vaccines show immediate effects"