4 ms·

One thing that makes me nervous is the mRNA vaccine which, to my close to zero understanding, is a completely novel way of administering a vaccine. Anyone have

One thing that makes me nervous is the mRNA vaccine which, to my close to zero understanding, is a completely novel way of administering a vaccine. Anyone have a good writeup or similar to relieve a bit of fear?

LinuxBender 6y ago
This [1] may not alleviate fear, but it may help you understand mRNA vaccines. [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK0C5tFHze8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK0C5tFHze8
jvzr 6y ago
This did it for me: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/reverse-engineering-source-code-of-the-biontech-pfizer-vaccine/ https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/reverse-engineering-source...
tonfa 6y ago
https://www.statnews.com/2020/11/10/the-story-of-mrna-how-a-once-dismissed-idea-became-a-leading-technology-in-the-covid-vaccine-race/ https://www.statnews.com/2020/11/10/the-story-of-mrna-how-a-... https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/reverse-engineering-source-code-of-the-biontech-pfizer-vaccine/ https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/reverse-engineering-source... Not going into the safety side that much, but a lot of background and technical details.
- waihtis 6y ago
  The second article was golden, and I would say it cleared the concept very well. I do feel more confident about the mRNA method now. Thanks!
yodsanklai 6y ago
You shouldn't be downvoted. It's reasonable to be anxious. A few weeks ago, a prominent and "mainstream" French doctor said that he wouldn't get an mRNA vaccine shot until he had access to the corresponding scientific publications (not available at the time). In the meantime, he said he wouldn't be able to make an informed decision. https://www.sortiraparis.com/news/coronavirus/articles/237986-pfizer-vaccine-a-worrying-level-of-adverse-effects-professor-caumes-says/lang/en https://www.sortiraparis.com/news/coronavirus/articles/23798... Personally, I mostly trust the medical institutions of my country and I'll probably follow their recommendations without second-thoughts. Yet, it never hurts to have some doubts, especially in this context. EDIT: It's one of these topics where you're not allowed to express the slightest, tiniest, doubt.
- waihtis 6y ago
  > EDIT: It's one of these topics where you're not allowed to express the slightest, tiniest, doubt. It's a bit disappointing, since neither of us are particularly advocating any resistance to vaccines. HN is one of the last larger forums to properly dissect topics, ask questions (even difficult ones), and try to understand root causes & effects, second-level effects and so forth. Unfortunately lately it seems the twitter/reddit culture has taken a bit of a foothold - cheap, popularity-seeking comments void of any substance are spammed into anything remotely relating to politics or breaking news. And questions/comments like ours are vehemently downvoted. Let's hope the trend breaks down rather than grows.
hannob 6y ago
There's a very simple argument to counter this thought. It's true mrna vaccines are new, but also the sars-cov2 virus is new. Your question shouldn't be if you're worried about mrna vaccines, your question should be if you should be more worried about mrna vaccines than about getting infected. Serious long term sideeffects from mrna vaccines? Possible, but very unlikely. Serious long term sideeffects from covid-19? Absolutely, and there's a lot we still don't know.
- gnusty_gnurc 6y ago
  One is a virus that’s ostensibly handled fine by practically any healthy immune system, whereas the vaccine is a novel gene therapy. It seems to be fine and without any noticeable side-effects, but the “how dare you even slightly doubt it, you monster” tone is frankly absurd and authoritarian.
  - scotty79 6y ago
    > handled fine by practically any healthy immune system, Except for nearly 2 million dead people so far and many millions with long term adverse effects. > vaccine is a novel gene therapy. And those are just wrong words. > "how dare you even slightly doubt it, you monster” Given that at some point supply of the vaccine will exceed the demand and planting seeds of doubt in other people will reduce demand further and cause them to loose health or life ... yes, voicing uninformed concerns is acting like monster. It's fine to have concerns but just go and read science quietly till they are resolved instead of voicing them.
    - gnusty_gnurc 6y ago
      > but just go and read science quietly Can you imagine the pretentiousness required to say this? We all know the reaction of this were the words spoken to some identity group X. “Go read biology quietly.” “Go read history quietly.” > > vaccine is a novel gene therapy. > And those are just wrong words. Ok - RNA therapy... gene therapy and RNA therapy are separate but they're often discussed as related things.

LinuxBender 6y ago

This [1] may not alleviate fear, but it may help you understand mRNA vaccines. [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK0C5tFHze8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK0C5tFHze8

jvzr 6y ago

This did it for me: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/reverse-engineering-source-code-of-the-biontech-pfizer-vaccine/ https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/reverse-engineering-source...

tonfa 6y ago

https://www.statnews.com/2020/11/10/the-story-of-mrna-how-a-once-dismissed-idea-became-a-leading-technology-in-the-covid-vaccine-race/ https://www.statnews.com/2020/11/10/the-story-of-mrna-how-a-... https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/reverse-engineering-source-code-of-the-biontech-pfizer-vaccine/ https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/reverse-engineering-source... Not going into the safety side that much, but a lot of background and technical details.

waihtis 6y ago
The second article was golden, and I would say it cleared the concept very well. I do feel more confident about the mRNA method now. Thanks!

yodsanklai 6y ago

You shouldn't be downvoted. It's reasonable to be anxious. A few weeks ago, a prominent and "mainstream" French doctor said that he wouldn't get an mRNA vaccine shot until he had access to the corresponding scientific publications (not available at the time). In the meantime, he said he wouldn't be able to make an informed decision. https://www.sortiraparis.com/news/coronavirus/articles/237986-pfizer-vaccine-a-worrying-level-of-adverse-effects-professor-caumes-says/lang/en https://www.sortiraparis.com/news/coronavirus/articles/23798... Personally, I mostly trust the medical institutions of my country and I'll probably follow their recommendations without second-thoughts. Yet, it never hurts to have some doubts, especially in this context. EDIT: It's one of these topics where you're not allowed to express the slightest, tiniest, doubt.

waihtis 6y ago
> EDIT: It's one of these topics where you're not allowed to express the slightest, tiniest, doubt. It's a bit disappointing, since neither of us are particularly advocating any resistance to vaccines. HN is one of the last larger forums to properly dissect topics, ask questions (even difficult ones), and try to understand root causes & effects, second-level effects and so forth. Unfortunately lately it seems the twitter/reddit culture has taken a bit of a foothold - cheap, popularity-seeking comments void of any substance are spammed into anything remotely relating to politics or breaking news. And questions/comments like ours are vehemently downvoted. Let's hope the trend breaks down rather than grows.

hannob 6y ago

There's a very simple argument to counter this thought. It's true mrna vaccines are new, but also the sars-cov2 virus is new. Your question shouldn't be if you're worried about mrna vaccines, your question should be if you should be more worried about mrna vaccines than about getting infected. Serious long term sideeffects from mrna vaccines? Possible, but very unlikely. Serious long term sideeffects from covid-19? Absolutely, and there's a lot we still don't know.

gnusty_gnurc 6y ago
One is a virus that’s ostensibly handled fine by practically any healthy immune system, whereas the vaccine is a novel gene therapy. It seems to be fine and without any noticeable side-effects, but the “how dare you even slightly doubt it, you monster” tone is frankly absurd and authoritarian.
- scotty79 6y ago
  > handled fine by practically any healthy immune system, Except for nearly 2 million dead people so far and many millions with long term adverse effects. > vaccine is a novel gene therapy. And those are just wrong words. > "how dare you even slightly doubt it, you monster” Given that at some point supply of the vaccine will exceed the demand and planting seeds of doubt in other people will reduce demand further and cause them to loose health or life ... yes, voicing uninformed concerns is acting like monster. It's fine to have concerns but just go and read science quietly till they are resolved instead of voicing them.
  - gnusty_gnurc 6y ago
    > but just go and read science quietly Can you imagine the pretentiousness required to say this? We all know the reaction of this were the words spoken to some identity group X. “Go read biology quietly.” “Go read history quietly.” > > vaccine is a novel gene therapy. > And those are just wrong words. Ok - RNA therapy... gene therapy and RNA therapy are separate but they're often discussed as related things.