BOOM

Trending Searches

    SUPPORT
    BOOM

    Trending News

      • Fact Check 
        • Fast Check
        • Politics
        • Business
        • Entertainment
        • Social
        • Sports
        • World
      • Law
      • Explainers
      • News 
        • All News
      • Decode 
        • Impact
        • Scamcheck
        • Life
        • Voices
      • Media Buddhi 
        • Digital Buddhi
        • Senior Citizens
        • Videos
      • Web Stories
      • BOOM Research
      • BOOM Labs
      • Deepfake Tracker
      • Videos 
        • Facts Neeti
      • Home-icon
        Home
      • About Us-icon
        About Us
      • Authors-icon
        Authors
      • Team-icon
        Team
      • Careers-icon
        Careers
      • Internship-icon
        Internship
      • Contact Us-icon
        Contact Us
      • Methodology-icon
        Methodology
      • Correction Policy-icon
        Correction Policy
      • Non-Partnership Policy-icon
        Non-Partnership Policy
      • Cookie Policy-icon
        Cookie Policy
      • Grievance Redressal-icon
        Grievance Redressal
      • Republishing Guidelines-icon
        Republishing Guidelines
      • Fact Check-icon
        Fact Check
        Fast Check
        Politics
        Business
        Entertainment
        Social
        Sports
        World
      • Law-icon
        Law
      • Explainers-icon
        Explainers
      • News-icon
        News
        All News
      • Decode-icon
        Decode
        Impact
        Scamcheck
        Life
        Voices
      • Media Buddhi-icon
        Media Buddhi
        Digital Buddhi
        Senior Citizens
        Videos
      • Web Stories-icon
        Web Stories
      • BOOM Research-icon
        BOOM Research
      • BOOM Labs-icon
        BOOM Labs
      • Deepfake Tracker-icon
        Deepfake Tracker
      • Videos-icon
        Videos
        Facts Neeti
      Trending Tags
      TRENDING
      • #Operation Sindoor
      • #Pahalgam Terror Attack
      • #Narendra Modi
      • #Rahul Gandhi
      • #Waqf Amendment Bill
      • #Arvind Kejriwal
      • #Deepfake
      • #Artificial Intelligence
      • Home
      • World
      • Can COVID-19 Vaccines Cause...
      World

      Can COVID-19 Vaccines Cause Neurodegenerative Diseases? A FactCheck

      Medical experts say the study linking mRNA shots to neurodegenerative diseases has no scientific basis.

      By - AFP |
      Published -  18 May 2021 6:47 PM IST
    • Boomlive
      Can COVID-19 Vaccines Cause Neurodegenerative Diseases? A FactCheck

      Articles claim a study found that the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech may cause diseases such as Alzheimer's. But medical experts say the study linking mRNA shots to neurodegenerative diseases has no scientific basis, the paper is published in a for-profit journal, and is written by a doctor with a history of opposing vaccination.

      Also Read: Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Is Safe For Breastfeeding Mothers, Experts Say

      "REPORT: Pfizer Vaccine Confirmed To Cause Neurodegenerative Diseases - Study," warns the headline of an April 22, 2021 article from the website National File. It was shared more than 7,500 on Facebook according to social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle.


      Screenshot of a National File article taken on May 10, 2021

      The article was republished by Global Research, a Canadian website the US State Department has described as "deeply enmeshed in Russia's broader disinformation and propaganda ecosystem."

      Screenshots of the article can also be found on Instagram here and here.

      The article was shared as countries push to vaccinate their populations against COVID-19, which has killed more than 3.3 million people worldwide. In some cases, these efforts have been hampered by fears of the vaccine based on inaccurate claims spreading across the internet.

      More than 264 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the United States, while Canada has put more than 16.8 million shots into arms.

      Most were Pfizer's and Moderna's mRNA vaccines, though shots that use different technology are also available in the United States from Johnson & Johnson and in Canada from AstraZeneca.

      The mRNA vaccines differ from previously offered inoculations in that instead of confronting the immune system with part of a virus in a weakened or deactivated form to build antibodies, they give it a "blueprint" of a part of the virus (the spike protein) that the body can then recognize and fight when confronted by it later.

      Also Read: Dr. Janci Chunn Lindsay Makes Misleading Claims About COVID-19 Vaccine

      But Dr Neil Cashman, professor of neurology at the University of British Columbia, told AFP: "There is absolutely no evidence that RNA vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna) can promote risk of neurodegeneration in humans or test animals."

      Origin of the claim

      The National File article is based on a single study, "COVID-19 RNA Based Vaccines and the Risk of Prion Disease" by J. Bart Classen, a licensed physician in Maryland, from the journal Microbiology & Infectious Diseases.

      Another article that also cited Classen's paper circulated in February 2021 on the website of the non-profit anti-vaccine advocacy organization Children's Health Defense (CHD).

      CHD chairman Robert F. Kennedy Jr, son of slain senator Bobby Kennedy and the nephew of former US president John F. Kennedy, shared that article on Twitter, where it received more than 2,200 retweets.

      Kennedy, who has a large Facebook following but was blocked from Instagram in February 2021 after sharing false claims about COVID-19.

      Classen's paper is from an open access journal published by SciVision Publishers.

      The journal is not indexed in PubMed.gov, a US database containing more than 32 million citations and abstracts under the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the agency for medical research.

      Nor is it referenced in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), which provides access to scientific journals considered to be of good quality.

      "The 'journal' Microbiology & Infectious Diseases is a predatory journal that accepts money to publish papers without peer review -- so it is a profit-making business, not a scientific or medical journal," according to Cashman.

      Prion diseases

      Classen claims in his paper: "RNA based vaccines offers (sic) special risks of inducing specific adverse events. One such potential adverse event is prion based diseases." He adds that a class of RNA binding proteins have been shown to play a role in "causing a number of neurological diseases including Alzheimer's disease and ALS."

      Johns Hopkins University explains that "prion diseases occur when normal prion protein, found on the surface of many cells, becomes abnormal and clump in the brain, causing brain damage."

      Also Read: Tucker Carlson Misrepresents Govt Data As COVID-19 Vaccines' Death Rate

      The most well-known prion disease is BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) -- also called mad cow disease -- which affects cattle and is believed to be related to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in humans.

      A study from researchers at the University of Texas explained that Alzheimer's disease and prion diseases share "common pathogenic features. These include the presence of misfolded protein deposits and progressive neuronal loss in specific areas of the brain."

      But "scientists don't yet fully understand what causes Alzheimer's disease in most people," the US National Institute on Aging says. It is the most common form of dementia and more than six million Americans are living with the disease.

      An article by microbiologist Alex Berezow for the American Council on Science and Health said the claim that mRNA vaccines will trigger diseases such as Alzheimer's is a "myth."

      Calling Classen's paper "total garbage," UBC's Cashman explained that the mRNA in the vaccine "never makes it to the brain cells in which neurodegeneration occurs."

      Dr David Gorski, an associate professor of surgery at Wayne State University, agreed in a rebuttal to Classen's paper for the website Science-Based Medicine.

      "Prion diseases are diseases of the central nervous system," he explained. "COVID-19 vaccines aren't injected into the central nervous system." Gorski said that claims about mRNA vaccines and neurodegenerative ailments were "speculation based on highly implausible biology."

      The website of Classen's company also includes the claim that it "has linked immunization with the development of chronic diseases including autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes."

      But a document from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that Classen's results linking vaccination to diabetes "have not been verified by other researchers."

      Also Read: COVID-19 Vaccines Do Not Cause Impotence Or Infertility

      Several studies found no link between immunizations and a heightened risk of diabetes.

      The CDC and Health Canada also say COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective.

      This claim has also been fact-checked by USA Today, The Dispatch and in French by AFP Factuel.

      (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by BOOM staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

      Tags

      COVID-19
      Read Full Article
      Claim :   Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine can cause Neurodegenerative Diseases like Alzheimer.
      Claimed By :  Study by Dr. J. Bart Classen in the journal Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, Articles by National File and Global Research, Social media posts
      Fact Check :  False
      Next Story
      Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors.
      Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker. Please reload after ad blocker is disabled.
      X

      Subscribe to BOOM Newsletters

      👉 No spam, no paywall — but verified insights.

      Please enter a Email Address
      Subscribe for free!

      Stay Ahead of Misinformation!

      Please enter a Email Address
      Subscribe Now🛡️ 100% Privacy Protected | No Spam, Just Facts
      By subscribing, you agree with the Terms & conditions and Privacy Policy connected to the offer

      Thank you for subscribing!

      You’re now part of the BOOM community.

      Or, Subscribe to receive latest news via email
      Subscribed Successfully...
      Copy HTMLHTML is copied!
      There's no data to copy!