Dangerous, ineffective DNA modifiers … Since their development, messenger RNA vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna have been controversial. The academies of medicine, science and pharmacy wanted to put an end to it through a joint press release issued on August 4.
They were particularly upset by what they consider “false information … issued and maintained by a small minority” that “is not based on any scientific data.”
Press release | Messenger RNA: a safe and highly effective vaccine weapon against # COVID-19
THE’@AcadSciences, the’@acadmed and the@AcadPharm report false information that circulates about the #vaccines based on messenger RNA.
Read : https://t.co/q2PYn7Ivqv pic.twitter.com/QFhGaW5Ua1
– Academy of Sciences (@AcadSciences) August 5, 2021
Pfizer and Moderna are the pioneers of messenger RNA vaccines. The principle is to send genetic instructions to cells to make a specific protein. This allows the body to produce an immune response to Covid-19. Messenger RNA is an innovative technique: vaccines generally rely on injecting part of the killed or attenuated virus to stimulate the production of antibodies. Therefore, Pfizer and Moderna may raise some questions.
But academies have recalled that if these vaccines are the first of their kind, scientists have been working on messenger RNA for more than thirty years. These products “have undergone pharmaceutical development and clinical trials carried out in accordance with the best practices for their commercialization,” the press release details. Therefore, they are “remarkably safe”.
Regarding the efficacy of this type of vaccine, “they induce a protection of more than 90% against the symptomatic forms of Covid-19 and almost total against the severe forms.” These figures were recently backed up by a large British study, which states that vaccinated people are three times less likely to test positive than unvaccinated people.
The academies have also insisted on the need for “universal vaccination” to “stop” the pandemic. At this time, 54% of the French have received their two doses. Another 26% of the population would have to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, even if this percentage is debated even within the scientific world. Alain Fischer, head of the government’s vaccination strategy, estimates that 90% of French people over the age of 12 should get vaccinated.