COVID-19 Conspiracy Theory Discourages Vaccination-Montreal

Many myths and conspiracy theories are widespread. COVID-19 (New Coronavirus Infection) vaccine.

Those false theories can cause people to hesitate to be shot.

Global News spoke with Dr. Don Shepard, chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at McGill University and director of the McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity (MI4), to explore the myths surrounding vaccines. ..

Myth # 1: Vaccine contains a tip to track a person

One common conspiracy theory is that the COVID-19 vaccine inserts a microchip into the body for tracking.

“Ask yourself why it wasn’t used by thousands of other things that could make the owner of this” super cool “nanotechnology giant. Dr. Shepherd said. “That is, how big is Apple’s chase? If I inject it into your arm, you may notice.”

read more: How Pfizer and Modana’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine works

Another false theory is that vaccines contain enough metal to attach magnets.

“People who see a magnet stuck in a person’s arm say there must be something there … Looking a little deeper, they admit to licking the magnet before sticking it. You can actually find a video of a person in their arms, “said Dr. Shepherd.

Myth # 2 step skipped with vaccine

Many were stunned to see how quickly the COVID-19 vaccine came out.

Traditionally, vaccine development could take up to 10 years.

So how was the COVID vaccine created and distributed in less than a year?

Coronavirus and mRNA research-The technology behind Pfizer and Moderna vaccines has been around for decades.

“I started studying RNA 23 years ago,” said Drew Weissman, a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Weissman is one of the pioneers in mRNA science.

“The reason it was so fast is that with RNA, you only need sequences, you don’t need to make viruses, you don’t have proteins, you just need sequences. And from 20 years of coronavirus research, It turns out that the important thing is the spike protein. “

Dr. Weissman said that when the COVID-19 gene sequence was sequenced on January 12, 2020, it immediately became functional.

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“We took spikes, made RNA, and started immunizing animals. Modena and BioNtec made it to immunize people,” said Dr. Weissman.

Dr. Weissman says there was no shortcut to making a vaccine. His own wife was part of the first clinical trial of the Pfizer vaccine.

Regarding how quickly they get into people’s arms, Dr. Shepherd argues that bureaucratic formalism has not been cut.

“Rather than having regulators review the data 24/7, we wait for a beautiful little package with a bow and everyone can get together every other Friday from 8am to 4pm. You don’t have to spend six months reviewing the data at the meeting until. Room, “Dr. Shepherd explained.

“With the pandemic vaccine, it was all done manually. When the data was available, it was reviewed.”

He states that the clinical trials were conducted as usual, with the same number of people, the same follow-up, the same safety signal, and the same results.

Myth # 3: Vaccines cause infertility in women

Another theory that is prevalent is that the COVID-19 vaccine can cause infertility in women.

Dr. Shepherd believes this myth may be the case for a broken phone.

“German scientists at the outbreak were talking about viruses rather than vaccines, but pointed out that peplomers may resemble placental proteins to some extent, and he said after coronavirus infection. I was worried that the virus could lead to infertility and loss of pregnancy, and now it turns out that is not true, “Dr. Shepard said.

Truth: Vaccines have side effects and complications, but are unlikely

Scientists do not deny that the vaccine can have side effects and complications.

Pfizer vaccines can cause allergic reactions such as anaphylaxis. This is one of the reasons why patients are required to wait 15 minutes before leaving the vaccination center.

Other issues can occur days or even weeks after receiving the shot.

“The first dose of AstraZeneca is probably a blood clot once in 50,000. The second dose is 1 in 500,000. The chance of an allergic reaction to the mRNA vaccine is in the 1 in 1,000,000 range. We know, and now the number of heart inflammations is so low that it’s difficult to measure, “explained Dr. Shepard.

“But most people think it’s probably in the one-millionth range.”

Truth: Vaccination helps end the pandemic

Dr. Shepherd states that taking a shot is essential to ending the pandemic.

“High levels for all to keep these infections at reasonable levels, maintain variant replication at levels where variants do not spin out on the second Tuesday, and reduce the population at risk. You need to be vaccinated. It is protected and the best solution to this is for everyone who is eligible to be vaccinated, “Dr. Shepard said.

Dr. Shepherd adds that young people should be shot because they are still infected and can get a “long COVID” that is a long-term effect of the disease.

“The second reason is to protect your loved ones. Everyone in the world is connected to someone over the age of 60, and wants to be responsible for infecting someone who is not easy to protect. No one wants it, “Dr. Shepherd said.

Finally, Dr. Shepherd states that a way to avoid the emergence of new, more aggressive and deadly variants is to prevent viral replication.

“It’s no coincidence that we’ve seen these variants appear in countries with high levels of viral replication and infection. Reducing the number of cases makes the virus much less likely to evolve into new variants. “I will,” said an immunologist.

“One day, the variant may not be so gentle and gentle to the age of 18-30.”

Your best bet is to inform yourself with reliable scientific sources, experts say that vaccination can save your life as well as others. Say you can.

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