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As I understand it, mRNA vaccines are considered safer "by design" than other types of vaccines, because mRNA is so short-lived and the body has no way of repli
by formerly_proven 5y ago
As I understand it, mRNA vaccines are considered safer "by design" than other types of vaccines, because mRNA is so short-lived and the body has no way of replicating mRNA, and each piece of mRNA is only translated a few times, so the number of proteins a shot of mRNA vaccine creates is very specific. Because the mRNA can be made to only produce a very specific component of the virus, there is basically no risk for a real infection to develop, because there isn't a real pathogen, in contrast to some other vaccines which contain modified/weakened pathogens.
- staticassertion 5y agoI don't know that they're much safer because I think the risks are just really low in general and likely the same - the "major" risk being an autoimmune response, which isn't really specific to vaccines. My understanding was that the main benefit was that it's easier to produce in large amounts (and faster to go from sequence -> vaccine?), and the main downside is that it's harder to store (since it breaks down so easily). But I'm not a doctor, and I generally try to not tell people what they should do, shouldn't do, or what the risks are - just give them the info and help them understand what's going on. Most people are just afraid of the unknown, and if no one's giving them an explanation they can understand they'll go with the simplistic, albeit incorrect ones that they can ("microchips are a thing I know about - they put those in animals to track them, maybe they're putting it in the vaccine").