This is a review of the BBC hit-piece video found here: Coronavirus: False vaccine claims debunked.
Claim 1: There’s a microchip or tracking device.
My Response: No one claims this. It is poisoning the well.
The idea of implanting a digital tracking device into all humans is an authoritarian’s dream. It has been speculated about as something the Elites may wish to do in the future. Given their goals and plans, the usefulness of having all individuals electronically tagged and tracked is undeniable. Plans to electronically tag all resources and devices, to create an “internet of things”, are already well-advanced. The real question is why wouldn’t they want to tag all humans in the same way?
Bill Gates is among these Elites, as explained in Who is Bill Gates?. One of the organisations funded by The Gates Foundation through GAVI is ID2020. This organisation plans to create a digital identity for every person on the planet. They have an article about their strategy for achieving this goal, literally called Immunization: an entry point for digital identity. They say:
“In order to enable digital identity at scale, we will need to identify and leverage many entry points. Immunization service delivery presents a tremendous opportunity to provide children with a durable, portable and secure digital identity early in life”
So, within the plans of the Elites, there is a connection between digital identity and vaccines. They consider vaccines an opportunity to advance the digital control grid they are creating. Vaccines, digital identity, tracking devices, and nanotechnology are all part of The Great Reset agenda. They are all crucial elements in their plan to “fuse our biological, physical and digital identities”.
No one claims there are tracking devices in the Covid vaccines or any other vaccines that currently exists. It is a future concern, not a present one.
There is no honest reason to bring this claim up in this video. The video is presumably aimed at people with doubts about the Covid vaccines, who may be concerned about “dangerous information” they have “heard online”. The choice not only to include this claim about tracking devices among the five claims, but to put it first in the video, shows that this video is BBC propaganda. This claim is prominently placed to smear all dissenters, and conveniently put them in the bracket of “conspiracy nuts”. The same old trick works every time.
Claim 2: The vaccine contains pork or beef.
My Response: No one claims this. It is poisoning the well, again.
The ingredients of the Covid vaccines can be found on the Information for Healthcare Professionals documents produced by the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Approval (MHRA):
The Covid vaccines do not contain pork or beef. No one claims they do.
Does the BBC really think this is what is of concern to people? Or is it more likely they decided to include this claim for propaganda value? This claim seems to have been included to stoke animosity between groups. This is a standing order at the BBC, to make every issue into a war between groups: genders, races, classes, religions, etc. By including this issue about pork and beef, they are associating questions of vaccine safety with the cultural wars. This is part of the BBC’s campaign to paint vaccine refusers as not just wrong, gullible, and stupid, but also selfish, bigoted, and evil.
Claim 3: The vaccine will change my DNA.
My Response: No one claims this. Some have claimed that there is an unknown (and likely very small) risk of damage to DNA through reverse transcription. This is a far cry from “will change my DNA”.
In their November 2018 corporate prospectus, Moderna describes mRNA as “the software of life” and declares that:
“We are creating a new category of transformative medicines based on mRNA.”
The Moderna and Pfizer mRNA-based products are not vaccines by the definition of the term up until 2020. They contain no antigen. All existing vaccines contain an ingredient that directly triggers the immune system. The antigen is either “attenuated live” (e.g. MMR, Rotavirus, Varicella, BCG) or “inactivated” (e.g. DTaP, HepB, Hib, Polio, HepA, Influenza, Pneumococcal). In contrast, these new mRNA-based products contain code for the body’s own cells to create the antigen. In this case, coding for the cells to create the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Vaccines directly trigger an immune response; these products are designed to create a temporary auto-immune condition.
The delivery system for the mRNA is a particular safety concern. The mRNA is encased in a lipid nanoparticle (LNP) coated with polyethylene glycol (PEG). The idea of the PEG-coated LNP is to get the mRNA to the cells intact. Once in the cells, the mRNA gets transcribed into the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The longer the mRNA endures in the cells, the more SARS-CoV-2 spike protein the cell produces. It needs to endure long enough to trigger an immune response significant enough to induce immunological memory, but not so long that it causes a long-lasting or permanent auto-immune condition.
This is brand new biotechnology. The Pfizer and Moderna products are best described as software being installed into the human body via injection. The software is written in the code of mRNA. The definition of vaccine has been expanded to make the novel seem familiar. Risk of altered DNA is one of many concerns raised by medical professionals about the safety of this new biotechnology. How can be we be sure that the mRNA will get broken down before it gets reverse-transcribed into DNA?
This new biotechnology had a troubled development. In 2017, Moderna was forced to abandon development of an mRNA/LNP-based treatment for a rare disease called Crigler-Najjar syndrome. In animal trials, there were serious side effects, and it was not proved safe enough to test in humans:
“the safe dose was too weak, and repeat injections of a dose strong enough to be effective had troubling effects on the liver… Several major pharmaceutical companies have tried and abandoned the idea, struggling to get mRNA into cells without triggering nasty side effects”.
Despite this setback, Moderna persisted in trying to develop mRNA-based biotechnology. Their November 2018 corporate prospectus is open about the signficiant risks associated with their strategy:
Most of our investigational medicines are formulated and administered in an LNP which may lead to systemic side effects related to the components of the LNP which may not have ever been tested in humans. While we have continued to optimize our LNPs, there can be no assurance that our LNPs will not have undesired effects.
Our LNPs could contribute, in whole or in part, to one or more of the following: immune reactions, infusion reactions, complement reactions, opsonation reactions, antibody reactions including IgA, IgM, IgE or IgG or some combination thereof, or reactions to the PEG from some lipids or PEG otherwise associated with the LNP.
Certain aspects of our investigational medicines may induce immune reactions from either the mRNA or the lipid as well as adverse reactions within liver pathways or degradation of the mRNA or the LNP, any of which could lead to significant adverse events in one or more of our clinical trials. Many of these types of side effects have been seen for legacy LNPs.
There may be resulting uncertainty as to the underlying cause of any such adverse event, which would make it difficult to accurately predict side effects in future clinical trials and would result in significant delays in our programs.
So, the mRNA delivery system biotechnology had to be abandoned in 2017 due to failed safety studies in animals, and still had all these risks associated with it in November 2018. What happened next? Was there some remarkable breakthrough made in 2019 or 2020? How did all these issues just disappear overnight? Are we supposed to believe that these risks are now understood and mitigated? Where are the studies that demonstrate that?
Why is it treated like heresy to raise concerns about this new biotechnology that had so many admitted problems before Covid happened, but which are now being ignored or dismissed? Is it possible that being granted legal immunity from adverse events to Covid vaccines influenced the decisions made by Pfizer and Moderna around safety testing? Could it have tipped the balance and made them decide that the previously showstopping risks of mRNA technology are now worth taking?
An article by Mercola about issues related to LNPs is here. Children’s Health Defense has a comprehensive and well-resourced article about issues related to PEG here.
Given these strong reasons to doubt the safety of mRNA products, can we be absolutely sure that the mRNA will not be reverse-transcribed and alter our DNA? There is a plausible biological mechanism for it to be happen. Even if the risk is a million-to-one, if everyone on Earth gets the vaccine, that is eight thousand people with altered DNA. More research is needed to quantify the risk, and to reveal specific groups vulnerable to this happening.
The health consequences of altered DNA are unknown. It is also unknown whether the altered DNA would be passed to future generations, potentially creating the first bloodlines of genetically-modified humans. Is this an acceptable risk? How sure are we that the odds of this happening are too low to worry about?
Claim 4: The vaccine contains aborted fetus cells
My Response: No one claims this. Use of fetal cells in production is a non-issue for most people, and for those who do oppose it, it is typically on ethical rather than health grounds.
Cloned human fetus cells are used in the production of many vaccines, like the MMR, varicella, Hepatitis A, and polio. The main two cell lines used in vaccine production today (WI-38 and MRC-5) were derived from two abortions in the 1960s. New lines were started later, such as in 1973 (HEK-293), 1977 (IMR-90), and 1985 (PER.C6). As the serial numbers suggest, these were the successful attempts among many during the development of each new line. According to Stanley Plotkin’s 2018 deposition, there were 76 aborted fetuses used in the development of WI-38 alone. All the fetuses were all over three months old and obtained from women in psychiatric institutions.
For all vaccines that use fetal cells in production, they are not meant to be in the final product. But they are still listed as an excipient. There is always a risk that some fetal cells do end up in the vaccine, due to imperfect isolation techniques. For example, the Havrix (Hepatitis A) vaccine excipient list includes:
“residual MRC-5 cellular proteins (not more than 5 mcg/mL)”
The Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccines are not produced this way. As discussed above, these products are not really vaccines, because they contain no antigen, which also means they have no need to use fetal cells in production. Fetal cells from the HEK-293 line were used by both Pfizer and Moderna during testing, but are not used in production of the final product.
The AstraZeneca Covid vaccine is produced using fetal cells from the HEK-293 fetal line. The MRC-5 line was also used in testing. The BBC video assures us that:
“the UK regulator [the MHRA] told us that no fetal material ends up in the vaccine”
I don’t know what evidence they have for making such an absolute statement. If it is the same as with other vaccines, there is a risk of residual fetal cells at trace amounts in the AstraZeneca vaccine. I do not know of any specific health risks associated with this, so this is really a non-issue for me and most other people.
Claim 5: The vaccines can make women infertile
My Response: This one (finally!) is a genuine claim that is made by some of us opposed to the Covid vaccines. The claim is that there is a reason to be concerned about the risk of infertility, and there has not been enough testing to rule it out.
This claim was first brought to wide attention in a petition submitted to the EU Parliament. The petition requested an immediate pause to the vaccine rollout to allow for more safety testing to take place. The petitioner was German politician Wolfgang Wodarg, and the co-petitioner was Mike Yeadon, former Vice President and Chief Scientist at Pfizer. Here is a brief description of the petition, written by Wodarg. Here is a long interview of Mike Yeadon by James Delingpole (from before the petition was created).
The risk of infertility is briefly mentioned in this part of the petition:
“Syncytin-1… which is derived from human endogenous retroviruses (HERV) and is responsible for the development of a placenta in mammals and humans and is therefore an essential prerequisite for a successful pregnancy, is also found in homologous form in the spike proteins of SARS viruses. There is no indication whether antibodies against spike proteins of SARS viruses would also act like anti-Syncytin-1 antibodies. However, if this were to be the case this would then also prevent the formation of a placenta which would result in vaccinated women essentially becoming infertile. To my knowledge, Pfizer/BioNTech has yet to release any samples of written materials provided to patients, so it is unclear what, if any, information regarding (potential) fertility-specific risks caused by antibodies is included.
According to section 10.4.2 of the Pfizer/BioNTech trial protocol, a woman of childbearing potential (WOCBP) is eligible to participate if she is not pregnant or breastfeeding, and is using an acceptable contraceptive method as described in the trial protocol during the intervention period (for a minimum of 28 days after the last dose of study intervention).
This means that it could take a relatively long time before a noticeable number of cases of postvaccination infertility could be observed.”
Within a few weeks, there were several responses to the proposed biological mechanism – such as this article, this article, and this Twitter thread. These responses argue that the similarity between syncytin-1 and the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is minimal, so there is no risk of the immune system being triggered by the placenta. They also argue that if they were similar enough to confuse the immune system, having SARS-CoV-2 itself ought to cause infertility, and there is no evidence that it does.
I cannot find any response Yeadon or Wodarg have made to these counterarguments. It appears that Yeadon is no longer on Twitter. On the basis of the responses above, and the lack of a comeback argument, I do not think the biological mechanism that Yeadon proposed is plausible.
Here is the response in the BBC video to this claim of a risk to fertility:
“None of the data studied so far indicates any harmful effect on fertility. The UK’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says there is no plausible biological way for the current vaccines to cause any impact on fertility. Even after trials are done and vaccines are approved, their effects are continually studied.”
The “data studied so far” refers to the pre-approval clinical trials. Here is the MHRA Information for Healthcare Professionals paragraph on Developmental And Reproductive Toxicity (DART) testing for the Pfizer vaccine:
“Reproductive and developmental toxicity were investigated in rats in a combined fertility and developmental toxicity study where female rats were intramuscularly administered with the COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 prior to mating and during gestation (receiving 4 full human doses that generate relatively higher levels in rat due to body weight differences, spanning between pre-mating day 21 and gestational day 20). SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody responses were present in maternal animals from prior to mating to the end of the study on postnatal day 21 as well as in foetuses and offspring. There were no vaccine-related effects on female fertility, pregnancy, or embryo-foetal or offspring development. No data on the COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 are available on vaccine placental transfer or excretion in milk.”
The FDA reports the following about DART testing for the Moderna vaccine:
“A combined developmental and perinatal/postnatal reproductive toxicity study of mRNA-1273 in rats was submitted to FDA on December 4, 2020. FDA review of this study concluded that mRNA1273 given prior to mating and during gestation periods at dose of 100 µg did not have any adverse effects on female reproduction, fetal/embryonal development, or postnatal developmental except for skeletal variations which are common and typically resolve postnatally without intervention.”
While it is reassuring to be told that no adverse effects on fertility were found in the animal studies, such studies are too small to pick up low-probability adverse effects. Furthermore, what is safe in animals is not always the same as what is safe in humans.
From the Phase 3 human studies for the Pfizer vaccine, we find the following reported by the FDA:
“Female study participants of childbearing potential were screened for pregnancy prior to each vaccination, with a positive test resulting in exclusion or discontinuation from study vaccination. The study is collecting outcomes for all reported pregnancies that occur after vaccination, or before vaccination and not detected by pre-vaccination screening tests. Twenty-three pregnancies were reported through the data cut-off date of November 14, 2020 (12 vaccine, 11 placebo).”
The same exclusions applied for the Moderna vaccine Phase 3 clinical trials, and we find the following reported by the FDA:
“Thirteen pregnancies were reported through December 2, 2020 (6 vaccine, 7 placebo).”
It is mildly reassuring that there was no difference between the pregnancy rate in the vaccine group compared to the placebo. But like the animal studies, this study is not large enough to detect low-probability adverse effects on fertility. In this case, the limitation is the length of the study period. There simply hasn’t been enough time since the vaccines and placebos were administered to properly assess whether the vaccine affects fertility. 23 pregnancies from the 38,000 test subjects is not enough to make a comparison between pregnancy rates in the vaccine and placebo groups meaningful.
The pre-approval studies have now effectively ended, because the researchers and subjects have been un-blinded and many of those who received the placebo are being given the vaccine.
Fertility is not going to be picked up by either of the two early monitoring systems in the US. These systems are VAERS and V-Safe. A slide summary of the data for the Covid-19 vaccines up to February can be found here, including the rates of miscarriages and stillbirths in vaccinated women. 15% of pregnancies reported to V-Safe ended in miscarriage, but this result is dismissed as being in line with background rates. 29 miscarriages have been reported to VAERS, most occurring within days of getting a Covid-19 vaccine, but this has not triggered a safety signal.
It may take years before evidence emerges either way about whether the Covid vaccines have an effect on fertility. Safety studies can now only be retrospective cohort or case-control studies. This is an inherently weaker form of study than the pre-approval Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs). It was a big risk to end the pre-approval studies so early, and to approve Covid-19 vaccines with such limited safety testing.
Given that Covid-19 is low-risk in women of childbearing age (and younger), and that the risk of infertility from the Covid-19 vaccines has not been ruled out, I think it would be wise for them to delay taking it.
Conclusion
The BBC aimed to debunk five claims supposedly made by those of us who oppose vaccines. Four of the five claims are not made by anyone; they are strawmen, included only to poison the well. I hope in this post I have shown why they are strawmen and have responded to the kernel of truth within each of them.
The only claim that is genuine is about the risk of infertility. Although in my assessment the biological mechanism proposed by Mike Yeadon does not seem plausible, there is a lack of safety data to be confident that the Covid-19 vaccines do not cause infertility.