"Alters DNA" or "inoculates you with a chip": hoaxes against the covid-19 vaccine spread in Brazil

A demonstration against the vaccine for covid-19 in São Paulo.NELSON ALMEIDA / AFP

Whether in hospital waiting rooms, in WhatsApp groups or even in religious celebrations, myths, lies and conspiracy theories against covid-19 vaccines predominate in Brazil.

The stories range from the fear of having a chip implanted in your brain to the false possibility of contracting cancer or HIV, all caused by a flood of false news spread left and right by Brazil, a veritable pandemic of misinformation.

Last week, at a religious celebration in the city of Fortaleza, a pastor told his faithful: "When this substance enters our body, it affects our DNA."

The Public Ministry of the state of Ceará has already requested that the pastor respond criminally to his statements.

A few days later, the words of Jair Bolsonaro in a speech (“if you turn into an alligator, it's your problem”) joined that body of theories that sow doubts among the people.

Despite the vast majority of the population saying they will get the vaccine, the percentage of those who do not want to be vaccinated has risen: from 9% in August to 22% this month, according to the Datafolha Institute.

Made in china

There is a rejection of a part of the Brazilian population towards Coronavac, the vaccine developed by the Chinese laboratory Sinovac.

Bolsonaro himself said months ago that he would not buy "Chinese vaccines."

However, in recent days, his government has already indicated that it will acquire doses through the Butantan Institute, which signed a contract with Sinovac to manufacture them in Brazil.

Those who reject Coronavac also say that "what comes from China does not last" or remember that it was in that country where the spread of the virus began.

But it happens that for a long time the Brazilian Health has been dependent on the Asian country.

"All the medicines we make in Brazil for endemic diseases have Chinese raw materials," says pulmonologist Margareth Dalholm.

Even the input that the Fiocruz Foundation will use to produce the British AstraZeneca's vaccine - the main commitment of the Brazilian Government - is Chinese.

"People have to understand, to end this prejudice, that China is the largest producer of biotechnology inputs in the world.

It's all Chinese, "said Dalholm in an interview with the

Roda Viva

television program

.

Side effects

Bolsonaro's most recent statements fuel distrust of vaccines, especially the first to get an emergency authorization, that of Pfizer.

The president criticized the alleged demands of the pharmaceutical company, by not taking responsibility for the occasional adverse effects, in an event in Bahia, when he said: "If you become an alligator, your problem."

And he added: “If you become Superman, if a woman or a man grows a beard or starts talking fine, they have nothing to do with it.

And, what is worse, it alters the immune system of the people ”.

Bolsonaro's words generate bewilderment when news of the adverse effects of Pfizer vaccines in the US and the UK arrives.

Four toilets - three of them with a history of severe allergy - had an allergic reaction after receiving the immunization.

Quickly, the regulatory agencies of the countries proceeded to withdraw the recommendation only for said public, so the vaccine continues to be distributed and applied.

Any vaccine can cause adverse reactions in a small part of the population, but these effects are generally mild.

Severe allergies, for example, are rare.

For a vaccine to obtain emergency authorization for distribution, regulatory agencies have to certify high levels of safety and efficacy.

The effort of science to develop vaccines against the coronavirus in record time is also generating a lot of mistrust.

Rapid development

The biomedical Mellanie Fontes-Dutra explains that the study process for the development of covid-19 vaccines is quite similar to that of other vaccines in non-pandemic times.

The speed of responses is mainly due to two situations: greater investment in the face of an economy knocked out by the virus, and previous investigations against the coronavirus that causes SARS and MERS diseases.

"That is the speed at which science responds when there is investment," says Fontes-Dutra.

Likewise, the results were accelerated and were more robust due to the high transmissibility of the virus, especially in Brazil.

"This increases the frequency of events, which is the focus of phase 3 of the investigations, to verify if the vaccine is really safe and capable of protecting the people to whom it is administered," explains the biomedical.

So far, none of the vaccines is indicated, for example, in children and pregnant women, since there are no specific studies for these groups.

But the laboratories are advancing in their investigations.

Pfizer, for example, has already started studying its administration in children over 12 years old.

“In general, the groups [of people to be vaccinated] have been very well delineated, according to age and ethnicity, to have different genetic backgrounds.

The vaccine is quite safe and well tolerated.

The risk of more serious adverse events is very low ”, explains Fontes-Dutra.

Everyone should get vaccinated

President Bolsonaro has already affirmed that he would not be vaccinated because he has antibodies, but his Government's own Ministry of Health indicates that people who already had the disease must receive immunization - as long as they are not infected.

Science still cannot answer how long the protection of those who developed antibodies lasts.

Even in the case of vaccines, this data will only arrive after observing the vaccinated groups.

The strength of DNA

The first vaccines about to be approved by international agencies are of a new technology, which uses the so-called messenger RNA to protect against covid-19.

This is the case, for example, of the immunizations of Pfizer and Moderna.

It didn't take long for theories to emerge that they could modify human DNA.

"That is impossible," clarifies Fontes-Dutra.

This type of vaccine uses messenger RNA as a way to help make a protein.

But these proteins are made in an area of ​​human cells that is distant and different from the nucleus, which is where the genetic material is found.

“It's like the core is a fortress and only allows entry to very specific things.

There is no way for RNA to enter the nucleus to interact with DNA ”, explains the biomedical.

Following production of the protein, the RNA in the vaccine is destroyed.

Cancer and HIV

Another myth says that covid-19 vaccines could cause cancer or even transmit HIV.

None of the covid-19 vaccines in advanced development use HIV.

Neither has any causal relationship between the administration of the vaccine and the development of tumors been observed so far.

“It doesn't make sense, and this worry subsides of its own weight.

What may have happened is a temporary association, without a cause and effect relationship with the immunization, ”says Fontes-Dutra,“ that is, someone has developed a tumor while receiving the vaccine, but without a relationship between the two.

According to her, the drugs presented so far have a good safety profile, so this type of concern is not justified.

"People are suspicious of anti-vaccine movements, but when you analyze it, the diseases that they say are associated have no cause-effect relationship," he says.

In the vaccination plan presented last week, the Ministry of Health estimates that 70% of the Brazilian population will have to be vaccinated against covid-19 to achieve mass immunization.

“We are living an infodemic, and we do not only see it with the covid-19 vaccine, but also in vaccination coverage since 2018. There is a very significant decrease in the coverage of several vaccines already approved and distributed in the Brazilian public health.

It is very dangerous ”, assures Fontes-Dutra.

The vaccine is not a magic bullet for the pandemic, but it is a crucial weapon to contain it.