After billions of doses, mRNA vaccines have demonstrated their safety, Elizabeth Tracey reports
Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:02 — 1.4MB)
Subscribe: RSS
Among the many advances seen while Covid was rampant, mRNA vaccines stand out. That’s according to Anna Durbin, a vaccine expert at Johns Hopkins.
Durbin: These mRNA vaccines are very safe. mRNA itself the way it's presented to you it's in what we call a lipid bubble, so that it's not destroyed before it can get to work in your cells and that lipid bubble itself can stimulate the immune system. These vaccines have been given now billions of doses, we know that they're safe. Safe doesn't mean that there's zero side effects. We have to really do a better job of communicating with people what to expect and what not to expect. :30
Durbin says one side effect seen with some of these Covid vaccines was a transient inflammation of the heart seen in a small percentage of young men, while many others reported fatigue, muscle aches and low fevers. She says compared with Covid infection, these are mild. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.