"Hi everyone! This is Dr. Stephanie Camaglia Reznick. I'm a board certified internist and one of the medical directors for Virtual Primary Care here at Oscar.
In today's video, I'd like to talk a bit about the COVID vaccine, specifically the mRNA ones meaning the one from Pfizer and the one from Moderna.
I know when people hear mRNA they get a little nervous. They start to think well, maybe it could somehow affect my DNA, cause mutations which could then lead to infertility or cancer, or who knows what.
Well, if you looked at reputable websites such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (opens in new tab), you'll see that the answer is no, the mRNA vaccine cannot affect your DNA. That said I think if you understand how mRNA works, it makes a lot of sense about why it does not affect your DNA. So, let's take a step back and talk about DNA and mRNA and how it normally works.
DNA is what contains your genes or your genomes, it's what you pass on to your children. It lives in the nucleus or the inner part of your cells. DNA is made up of four different bases which we sometimes refer to as A, C, G, and T, and there's a few really cool things — well, in my opinion more than a few cool things but a few cool things — that we'll talk about right now that these bases can do.
First, the bases can connect together kind of like puzzle pieces in a very specific way. A always matches with T and C always matches with G. What this means is that you can make a copy of each other because you know if one place was C then you could do a G and then when you make the next copy, you know it's going to be a C again and everything stays in the same order, so that's a pretty nifty thing.
Another thing to keep in mind is that these base pairs actually code for amino acids. What are amino acids? They are the building blocks of proteins. Put a bunch of amino acids together and you get a protein, and the proteins are what function in our bodies.
Every three base pairs — such as CAG, TAT — all the different permutations represent a different amino acid.
Understanding mRNA
What's mRNA?
When we're ready to express a gene or make that gene into a protein, what happens is there's a copy of the DNA that is then turned into mRNA using the base pairings we talked about — C with G and T with A, only mRNA is a little bit of a different molecule than DNA. I won't go into all the chemical differences but one example is that instead of the base T it has the base U but it can still pair up with A.
Once that mRNA copy is made it leaves the nucleus to go into the outer part of the cell called the cytoplasm. Here is where we go through what's called translation meaning that those three letter codes I talked about that is now in mRNA form is translated into the proteins, into the amino acids that combine to make the protein.
How mRNA works in the vaccine
These mRNA vaccines inject your body with mRNA that encodes for the spike protein of the COVID virus. The cells uptake the mRNA and not knowing it's a different mRNA than something else the cell already made, we'll go ahead and translate that so it becomes amino acids that combine together into a protein.
Now you have a COVID viral protein in your body without the virus in your body. Your body will recognize that this protein is foreign meaning it's not been in your body before and due to the activation of your immune system by other components of the vaccine — things we sometimes refer to as adjuvant — you will mount an immune response against this protein. This includes forming antibodies so if your body were to see this protein again, such as by being exposed to the COVID virus, you would know right away and attack that virus before you could be infected.
As you can see the mRNA doesn't go anywhere near your DNA in this situation and it's a different molecule and it won't be going in the nucleus.
Your DNA is safe and sound I hope this made it a lot easier to understand why we shouldn't be afraid of the mRNA vaccine."
Updated February 3, 2021
*Virtual providers like Dr. Reznick are employed by Oscar Medical Group and are not employed by Oscar Health, Inc.
This content does not constitute medical advice and is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advice, including diagnosis or treatment. Contact your physician with any questions you may have regarding COVID-19 or your personal health. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, dial 911 for immediate assistance.
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