From fertility to microchips, top doctor debunks these viral COVID vaccine myths in MS
Health officials unanimously agree that vaccines are the surest way to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, but in Mississippi, hesitations loom over a population with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the nation.
Misinformation about the safety, effectiveness and approval of the vaccine, among other rumors, have circulated on social media around the state, preventing shots and ultimately “killing people,” according to State Medical Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs.
Misinformation has spread with such regularity that in early July, the Mississippi State Department of Health began blocking inaccurate comments on its Facebook account.
During a recent weekly Facebook Live with the Mississippi State Medical Association, viewers asked questions about the COVID vaccine. Here are some answers to those questions, along with other common misconceptions about the vaccine:
Why should I get a vaccine that is not FDA-approved?
Though not fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration, all three vaccines have been given emergency use authorization (EUA) by the agency for distribution because of their ability to save lives during the pandemic.
To receive an EUA, which the FDA offers during public health crises, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson followed a unique set of guidelines that require clinical trials in “tens of thousands of study participants to generate the scientific data and other information needed by FDA to determine safety and effectiveness.”
J&J received their EUA in February, after Pfizer and Moderna in December.
Normally, the full authorization process for a vaccine can be lengthy and difficult. The EUAs were granted because of the vaccine’s lifesaving capacities.
“Under normal times … and you have time to follow those very slow, laborious rules, it makes sense to wait for all that. Because there are time limits built into all that. For the COVID vaccines, it’s killed over 600,000 Americans,” Dobbs said during the Friday MSMA call.
“We have a phenomenal amount of data that shows how safe and effective the vaccines are. But you don’t want to wait arbitrarily until the FDA says finally, ‘OK it’s been a year that we’ve been doing this, it’s FDA approved and then you get COVID and spend four weeks in the hospital on a ventilator.’”
Pfizer is said to be the furthest along in its process for full FDA approval. In a town hall last Wednesday with CNN, President Joe Biden said that he expects all the vaccines to get full authorization “quickly.”
“They’re not promising me any specific date, but my expectation, talking to the group of scientists we put together ... plus others in the field, is that sometime, maybe in the beginning of the school year, at the end of August, beginning September, October, they’ll get a final approval,” Biden said.
What’s the point of the COVID vaccine if I can still get the virus?
With the rise of the more transmissible delta variant in Mississippi, a small number of vaccinated residents have still contracted the virus.
Still, health officials say, the vaccine overwhelmingly reduces risk of infection, transmission and the severity of COVID. Mississippians should weigh the vaccine’s effectiveness shown in millions of people worldwide over a few “breakthrough cases,” said Dobbs.
“If you look at what we know…the Pfizer [is] 88% effective against delta. So 88% percent is not 100%. So the exception cannot undermine the majority of the success,” said Dobbs on Friday.
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, noted that the same vaccine was 93.7% effective against the original, alpha strain of the virus.
Have any Mississippians died from the COVID vaccine?
The Mississippi State Department of Health has not identified a single death caused by the vaccine, Dobbs said.
“Not one. Now, has one happened that we don’t know about? It could be, but every death that we’ve reported, we’ve looked into it,” he said.
Based on the ever-changing nature of human health, “normal, medical things” are bound to happen with a big test group, Dobbs said.
The Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System records every medical event that happens to residents who have gotten a vaccine, whether it’s related to their shot or not.
“It’s not ‘everybody that’s reported a death to VAERS equals a COVID death.’ Almost none of them are,” he said. “This is a VAERS struggle that laymen have misunderstood for years. This is not a new system that was created just for COVID. People have been confused about it for a long time.”
I already had COVID. Why should I take the vaccine?
While studies have found reinfection rates after a person has COVID-19 to be rare, immune responses change significantly from person to person. COVID, and the highly transmissible delta variant, remains a risk especially if immunocompromised or vulnerable.
A study conducted by scientists in Spain and Canada found that for those who recovered from COVID, immunity sharply declined after 6-8 months.
Experts recommend that all eligible individuals, even those who have previously been infected with COVID, should receive their vaccination to be fully protected.
Will these vaccines alter my DNA or insert a microchip?
According to a recent poll of 1,500 adults, around 20% believe the government uses COVID vaccines to microchip people, which is a false conspiracy theory.
The Economist/YouGov survey found that 15% of respondents said it was “probably true” that vaccines contain microchips while 5% said it was “definitely true.”
The microchip concern, along with the fear of vaccinations altering DNA, is a common online rumor spread along conspiracy threads across social media. It’s been debunked by all trained experts.
“No. Receiving a COVID-19 vaccine will not make you magnetic, including at the site of vaccination which is usually your arm,” said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on their website.
The vaccine also does not in any way “change or interact” with DNA, according to the CDC. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which use mRNA, and J&J, which is a viral vector vaccine, “deliver instructions (genetic material) to our cells to start building protection against the virus that causes COVID-19.”
The material never enters the nucleus of the cell, which is where our DNA is kept. Here is more information about mRNA and viral vector COVID-19 vaccines.
Why would I get a vaccine now, if I could wait and see the effects on others?
The lack of vaccination in communities is creating explosive transmission which puts vulnerable populations at risk of serious illness or death.
Dobbs, along with the other doctors on the MSMA call, said that unvaccinated individuals are “absolutely” driving the positive case numbers up.
There isn’t time to wait when it comes to getting vaccinated, the doctors said.
Data indicates that younger swaths of the state, around 42% of those 18 to 65, are vaccinated compared to 70% of those 65 and older.
The delta variant is much more transmissible in younger populations than any other COVID strain.
“We have seen, that especially for transmission in younger age groups, it’s high — 90% [infected] for younger folks,” Dobbs said.
Though death or serious illness doesn’t ward off long-term symptoms in young people, experts say, including prolonged shortness of breath, brain fog, fatigue, and loss of smell or taste.
“Some younger people have died from COVID-19, including those who were completely healthy,” writes the CDC.
Will I be required to get a vaccine or wear a mask if I don’t?
There are no statewide mandates for vaccination, masking or any other COVID-19 safety precautions in Mississippi. The health department does recommend, however, that communities, businesses and individuals take steps to control the spread.
Their suggestions include:
- Getting a COVID vaccine if eligible.
- Wear a mask when indoors in public settings if not vaccinated.
- Avoid all indoor mass gatherings, even if vaccinated when an individual is 65 and older or have a chronic medical condition.
Additional recommendations can be found on the Department of Health website.
“There are no mandates coming out of the health department for the general public,” Dobbs said. “But we want to raise awareness to the point where we say, ‘Hey, this is serious.’
“We’re not talking about closing a business, we’re not talking about closing a school. We’re making sure people know common sense things to do to get past the delta wave. And that’s it,” Dobbs said.
The federal government also does not mandate vaccination. Additionally, the CDC does not maintain or monitor a person’s vaccination records.
The CDC did recently recommend that both vaccinated and unvaccinated Americans wear masks indoors in coronavirus hot spots as the delta variant spreads — this includes Mississippi.
Will my fertility be impacted by the vaccine?
The CDC has said there is currently no evidence that the COVID vaccination causes any problems with pregnancy, fertility or the development of the placenta.
Dobbs recently shared a tweet with a link to a MarketWatch op-ed stating that COVID, not the vaccine, could actually adversely effect a man’s fertility.
The article, written by the director of the Reproductive Urology Program at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, featured research that found decreased numbers of sperm in six men who died of COVID-19.
This project is supported by Journalism and Public Information Fund, a Fund of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation.
This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 5:50 AM.
