No mRNA Vaccines Won’t (and Can’t) Rewrite Your DNA

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

All kinds of myths and misunderstandings about the new mRNA vaccines are circulating. It’s not really a surprise. It’s new technology never used in a vaccine before, and not everyone understands it.

One of the most pervasive is that the vaccine will somehow rewrite your DNA. In the most ridiculous version it contains alien DNA that will cause your body to grow a 5G antennae so the government can read your mind.

(I’m a science fiction writer and I still can’t match this stuff).

So, let’s take a look at this technology and see if we can debunk this theory.

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

What is mRNA?

First, let’s take a look at what mRNA actually is.

Our cells run on DNA, a highly complex molecule that’s essentially a biological code. DNA contains all the instructions needed to create the organism. It’s our master program, which we inherit from our parents and pass on to our children.

One of the things DNA does is instruct cells to make proteins. However, the DNA is all neatly tucked away in the cell’s nucleus. The ribosomes, which make proteins, need to know…