“If we get vaccinated against Covid-19, can there be changes in the genes and cause difficulties for later, for example for pregnancies? “. This is the question asked by Marie, a reader from Moselle. West France answer you.
No, get vaccinated against Covid-19 does not cause genetic modification or infertility problems.
Messenger RNA vaccines, such as Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna, do not modify your DNA. The National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm) has already looked into on this issue of genetic modification in December 2020.
The principle of these RNA vaccines is to produce the fragments of infectious agent directly by the cells of the vaccinated patient. For this, it is not the virus in its attenuated form that is injected but only DNA or RNA molecules encoding proteins of the pathogen.
“The cells of the vaccinated person located at the injection site (mainly muscle cells and cells of the immune system) are then able to manufacture said proteins themselves, chosen upstream for their ability to trigger an immune response meaningful and protective ”, details Inserm.
The Spike protein of Covid-19 is then produced directly in the cytoplasm of the cells of the vaccinated person and not in the nucleus of the cell.
The vaccine therefore does not lead to genetic modification. “The RNA injected via the vaccine has no risk of transforming our genome or of being transmitted to our offspring since, as mentioned above, it does not penetrate into the nucleus of cells. However, it is in this cell nucleus that our genetic material is located ”, says Inserm, in his article.
No risk of infertility
Fake news has spread on social media: Claims that 97% of people vaccinated become sterile after injections, as reported Le Figaro , last May. But it is not.
Same thing for this other fake news that circulated on the networks: the vaccination would cause the development of an autoimmune disease which could cause “Infertility in women”. However, according to several experts interviewed by Agence France Presse in this article, messenger RNA vaccines do not cause autoimmune diseases.
“Autoimmune diseases can be the result of one or more DNA mutations. The process by which these mutations appear has nothing to do with messenger RNA “, explained Thalia García Téllez, specialist and researcher in infectious diseases and vaccinology at the Cochin hospital in Paris.
Read also: Pfizer vaccine: no, it does not make women sterile!
The theory that the vaccine could cause fertility problems is without scientific basis. Nothing supports it to date and it is even more than unlikely, several specialists explained to AFP. in this article published mid-December 2020.
A April study published in the New England Journal Of Medecine involving 35,691 vaccinated pregnant women “Did not highlight any particular risk” on their health
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