Study does not prove that mRNA in Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine can be inserted into recipients’ chromosomes

 

Screenshot of the Facebook post.

(*Click to view larger image)

 

The Claim and Our Verdict

• Fact-checking:
  • A Facebook post quoted a study and claims the study has proven that the mRNA in Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine can be inserted into recipients’ chromosomes. However, the study is an in vitro experiment conducted under laboratory conditions. It does not reflect the situation of cells in the human body after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
• Our verdict: The study does not prove that the mRNA in Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine can be inserted into recipients’ chromosomes.

News Brief

A Facebook post published March 3, 2022 claims a study has proven that the mRNA in Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine can be inserted into recipients’ chromosomes. The traditional Chinese-language post translates as: “It has been said that the mRNA in BNT162b2 can be converted into cDNA and inserted into chromosomes. A study has found that the mRNA in BNT162b2 is converted into cDNA in liver and inserted into chromosomes…It can be estimated that after receiving BNT162b2, the number of viral mRNA converted into cDNA and then inserted into chromosomes is far greater than natural infection.” The post is accompanied by a screenshot with a link to an article entitled “Intracellular Reverse Transcription of Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 In Vitro in Human Liver Cell Line,” as evidence.

The vaccine BNT162b2 is a messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine jointly developed by the German biotechnology company BioNTech and the U.S. company Pfizer. The trade name of this vaccine is Comirnaty. Chromosomes are the carriers of genes located in the nucleus of a cell.

As of the publication of this report, the Facebook post had been shared 159 times, and had received 42 comments and 377 likes or reactions.

Fact-checking

The study was published Feb. 25, 2022 in the third issue of 2022 of Journal of Molecular Biology. It does not prove that “the mRNA in the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine can be inserted into recipients’ chromosomes.”

The objective of the research was to study “whether the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is able to complete a reverse transcription (RNA being reverse transcribed to DNA) inside the human liver cell line Huh7 in vitro under laboratory conditions.” However, the research carried out an in vitro experiment. Unlike in vivo experiments on animals or humans, the results of the in vitro experiment carried out in a laboratory environment cannot reflect the situation of cells in the human body after getting the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. In addition, the research team wrote in the paper about the results of the study: “At this stage, we do not know if DNA reverse transcribed from BNT162b2 is integrated into the cell genome. Further studies are needed to demonstrate the effect of BNT162b2 on genomic integrity, including whole genome sequencing of cells exposed to BNT162b2, as well as tissues from human subjects who received BNT162b2 vaccination.” The results of the study have not confirmed the effect of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on the genes of recipients. Therefore, the claim that “it can be estimated that after receiving BNT162B2, the viral mRNA is converted into cDNA and then inserted into the chromosome” is false.
 

Screenshot of the article quoted in the Facebook post.

(*Click to view larger image)

 
In addition, there are also voices of doubt in the scientific community about the experimental design and results of the study. Archa Fox, associate professor of school of human sciences, The University of Western Australia, and Stephen Turner, head of department of microbiology, Monash University, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that there were a number of issues with the study, such as an artificially high dose of the vaccine that the study relied on, and the absence of controls for the study’s use of cultured cells. 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) clearly states on its official website that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines do not affect or change the genes of recipients, because mRNA does not enter the nucleus of the cell where our DNA is located. Chromosomes, as the carrier of genes, are unevenly distributed in the nucleus, so the claim that “the mRNA in Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine can be inserted into recipients’ chromosomes” is false.