FACT FOCUS: COVID vaccines are not included in the food supply

For years, anti-vaccine advocates have used the foreboding image of a syringe to paint vaccinations as dark and dangerous. But recent vaccine conspiracy theories cast an air of terror on more mundane things like cows and lettuce.

In widespread postings online in recent weeks, misinformers have claimed that COVID-19 mRNA is vaccination added silently food supply, threatening a firm vaccine holdout.

In some cases, users misrepresented the limited use of RNA-based vaccines in animals. Others skewed the company’s research into using plants to grow proteins used in vaccines.

But experts have confirmed that steaks and salads do not contain the COVID-19 vaccine. Here are the facts.

Claim: COVID-19 mRNA vaccine is being added to the food supply through livestock and agricultural products.

FACT: The COVID-19 vaccine is not passed on through livestock or agricultural products, and experts say it is not an efficient way to immunize someone. A flurry of social media posts falsely suggests otherwise.

“Unvaccinated people are not unvaccinated because they have mRNA in their food supply,” reads one tweet shared thousands of times. asks, “Did you know that they will be vaccinating all of their livestock for COVID-19 this year?

Meanwhile, a TikTok video shared on Instagram questioned whether Whole Foods customers were unknowingly vaccinated with “C19 mRNA photographed via food,” citing a package of arugula and lettuce. Shows a photo.

In fact, there is no COVID-19 mRNA vaccine licensed for animals, Marissa Perry, a spokeswoman for the US Department of Agriculture, told The Associated Press. She said the department’s Animal and Plant Health Testing Service “does not have a vaccine approved to vaccinate livestock with COVID-19, nor does it have a vaccine in trials.”

Some animals, especially those in zoos that are considered susceptible, have been vaccinated against COVID-19. But these immunizations don’t rely on mRNA technology, said Suresh Kuchipudi, a veterinarian and director of emerging infectious diseases at Penn State University.

Regarding vaccines in general, there are several RNA-based vaccines licensed for animals. Pharmaceutical company Merck, for example, offers customizable vaccines against swine flu and other viruses to protect specific herds if needed. That approach predates the advent of her COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in humans, and the technology is not the same.

There are no mRNA vaccines for the disease used in cattle in the United States, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association stressed in a recent statement, addressing misinformation online. Finally choose if there is one.

Anyway, the idea that eating meat could transmit an mRNA vaccine to humans is not grounded in science.

“No, it wasn’t transferable,” Ted Ross, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Georgia and director of the Center for Vaccines and Immunology, said in an email. Very short, said to disassemble.

Not only is the mRNA degraded quickly, but it is also unlikely to survive the cooking process and be passed on to consumers, experts say.

Additionally, regulators require what is called a “withdrawal time.” This is the minimum amount of time that must pass between a food animal being vaccinated and entering the food chain, Alan Young, professor of veterinary medicine and biomedicine at South Dakota State University, recently said. he told the Associated Press.

Also, there is no evidence to support the idea that a COVID-19 vaccine is being added for production.

A TikTok video about Whole Foods focuses on clips from the co-founder of New Jersey-based AeroFarms, an indoor vertical farming company that grows leafy greens.

However, the video misrepresented the work described by AeroFarms co-founder David Rosenberg. Rosenberg discussed his early work on growing proteins that could theoretically be used in vaccines, but never made a commercially available edible vaccine.

Aerofarm co-founder and chief marketing officer Mark Oshima said of claims that the company’s vegetables contained the COVID-19 vaccine, “It couldn’t be further from the truth.

The research initiatives Rosenberg discussed are no longer active and are part of the company’s research and development division, separate from commercial products, Oshima said. Research and commodity farms are separate spaces.

Some researchers are exploring the possibility of growing an edible vaccine, an attractive idea for use in countries where vaccine storage may be a problem. Biodesign Center for Immunotherapy, Vaccines and Viral Therapy.

Chen said scientists have used the plant to grow a vaccine that can be extracted and used for injection. However, the production of edible vaccines is tricky in terms of obtaining the proper dosage and delivering the drug through the gut. He said much more work would be needed, including

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This is part of AP’s efforts to address widely shared misinformation, including working with outside companies and organizations to add facts to misleading content circulating online. . You can read more about fact checking in AP here.