Do mRNA vaccines given to livestock get passed on to humans who eat their meat? No, that's not true: There are no commercial mRNA vaccines for animals, a virology expert told Lead Stories. Even if there were, there is no way the vaccines could be transferred to humans through digestion: The mRNA would be destroyed during the cooking process or by acids in the human stomach, he said.
The claim appeared in a Hungarian-language video on TikTok on April 18, 2023. The text (translated to English by Lead Stories) read:
The unvaccinated will not remain unvaccinated for long with the mRNA in our food supply. "We have confirmed that mRNA is in the food stock," reported attorney @RenzTom . It turned out Merck has been injecting pigs with mRNA since 2008. - To everyone who persevered, and you said no to these mRNA vaccines. Well, you'll be getting them through food anyway.
mRNA, medical shorthand for messenger ribonucleic acid, is a molecule used in the COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Meanwhile, @RenzTom refers to Tom Renz, a self-described lawyer and "freedom fighter" known for his antivax commentaries on Twitter.
Here is a screenshot from the TikTok video taken at the time of writing:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Tue May 23 13:01:07 2023 UTC)
The video's voiceover also claims that authorities are forcing bakers to infuse their wares with an "additive" that is purportedly causing a "health problem," without mentioning mRNA specifically.
mRNA cannot be transferred to humans by eating, Eric Weaver, director of the Nebraska Center for Virology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, told Lead Stories in an emailed statement on April 11, 2023. He said:
There are no commercial Veterinary mRNA vaccines. There are some in research stages, but, for almost all cases, mRNA is not a cost-effective animal vaccine platform. If you were to eat uncooked meat from a mRNA vaccinated animal, the mRNA would be digested by the acids and enzymes in the stomach. mRNA is very unstable and if the meat was cooked, the mRNA would be destroyed.
Every living thing that we eat contains mRNA. The mRNA is either destroyed during processing/cooking or during digestion and is not expressed.
Merck, a U.S. pharmaceutical company, produces a vaccine that protects swine against influenza and other ailments using "RNA particle technology." This medicine was on the market well before scientists had even conceived of mRNA-based COVID-19 jabs, the Associated Press reported in a fact-check on April 13, 2023.
Moreover, European Union regulations protect consumers against exposure to "residues of veterinary medicinal products" administered to livestock before they are slaughtered.
The internet is awash with false claims that authorities are forcing COVID-19 shots on people despite knowing that they harm human health. Lead Stories' fact checks, noting multiple accepted and peer-reviewed studies establishing the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines can be found here.
