Researchers have discovered the Pfizer mRNA vaccine produces an “unintended immune response” in the body, which experts call a massive “developmental and regulatory failure.”The synthetic messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), used in Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, triggers the body to create a specific spike protein mimicking SARS-CoV-2. In theory, the body reacts to the foreign protein and generates protective immunity against the real virus.A press release from Cambridge University and published in Nature on December 6 said the approach fails in real life.“Researchers from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Toxicology Unit have discovered that the cellular machinery that ‘reads’ mRNAs ‘slips’ when confronted with repeats of a chemical modification commonly found in mRNA therapeutics…These slips lead to the production of ‘off-target’ proteins triggering an unintended immune response,” the release reads.“Bases with a chemical modification called N1-methylpseudouridine — which are currently contained in mRNA therapies — are responsible for the ‘slips’ along the mRNA sequence.”The MRC team collaborated with researchers from the Universities of Kent, Oxford and Liverpool and found an unintended immune response occurred in one-third of 21 patients inoculated with the Pfizer mRNA vaccine for the study.Thankfully, researchers also succeeded in reengineering the problematic parts of the mRNA to avoid “off-target” effects.“We can remove the error-prone code from the mRNA in vaccines so the body will make the proteins we want for an immune response without inadvertently making other proteins as well," said Dr. James Thaventhiran from the MRC team. "The safety concern for future mRNA medicines is that misdirected immunity has huge potential to be harmful, so off-target immune responses should always be avoided.” Biochemist professor and MRC team member Anne Willis said the redesigning work presents “both a concern and a solution for this new type of medicine.” Mis-reading the mRNA “massively distorts the code and the resulting protein,” causing a mutation known as a frameshift.“When the ribosome is confronted with a string of these modified bases called N1-methylpseudouridine in the mRNA, it slips around 10% of the time, causing the mRNA to be misread and unintended proteins to be produced — enough to trigger an immune response. Removing these runs of N1-methylpseudouridine from the mRNAs prevents ‘off-target’ protein production,” Willis wrote.The MRC team said the unintended immune responses had no ill effects, but other commentators were disturbed by the study.Dr. Jonathan Engler tweeted, “This is devastating. A design flaw in the mRNA injections results in them making random proteins which will be massively pro-inflammatory. Because the product is distributed throughout the body, this happens everywhere. This likely explains the huge variety of immune disorders reported in association with these products.”Emergency Physician Kashif Pirzada also tweeted, “This is a big deal. Novavax produces much milder reactions in people compared to the mRNA shots and also presents a more conventional protein-based vaccine option in our polarized information environment. I usually get floored by the mRNA shots, not so with Novavax.”Others characterized those raising concerns as “anti-vaxers.”Immunologist Marc Veldhoen tweeted, “Some well-known anti-vaxers are making claims the ribosome slip/frameshift causes a stop codon to be missed and an own mitochondrial protein to be made, risking autoimmunity. It´s important to know that the mRNA in COVID-19 vaccines do not contain other protein codes.”Edward Nirenberg, a medical publisher, also thought concerns were overstated.“Frameshifts are uncommon but naturally occurring events in, for example, viral infections. These give rise to protein products that can also be targeted by the immune system,” he wrote.“Coronaviruses have evolved to require frameshifting as part of their replication cycle to make their proteins.”Whatever the risk, a ResearchGate commentary on the study said WHO regulations suggest such findings should have been put on package inserts for the vaccine.“The finding that unintended proteins may be produced as a result of vaccination is sufficient cause for regulators to conduct full risk assessments of past or future harms that may have ensued,” the commentary stated.“Given that this study was conducted under the auspices of the United Kingdom Government, we must assume UK regulators, manufacturers and international regulatory agencies, including FDA, were apprised of the data many months ago.”The commentators said they expected a response.“We await their account of what steps they have taken to investigate why the formation of off-target proteins was not discovered sooner, what toxic effects they may have caused, and what steps…are taken to prevent harm in the future and to inform the public of these findings.”The findings add to a growing list of studies raising concerns with COVID-19 vaccines. A UK study released in October suggested COVID-19 vaccines could trigger rheumatic diseases that involve inflammation of joints, tendons, bones and muscles; and encompasses arthritis, vasculitis, lupus, and Still's disease.A November 2022 study revealed COVID-19 mRNA vaccines can reduce beneficial gut bacteria by 90%. Bifidobacteria helps immunity against pathogens and cancer.Clinical pathologist Dr. Ryan Cole recently stated DNA contamination in some mRNA vaccine doses could be linked to a rising incidence of autoimmune conditions, cancers and micro-clots.
