Covid-19 Expert's View Medical News

Do COVID-19 Vaccines Cause New Coronavirus Variants? 

We know that one of social media’s bane is how misguiding it can be . Recently rumors started circulating about how vaccines are the reason for the creation of new SARS-CoV-2 variants . Lets find out if its true or just another rumor we heard in passing .

Overview:

This particular news began spreading wildly like a wild fire and the one who was a reason that started was French virologist Luc Montagnier who co-won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for identifying HIV . He was reported to have claimed in a recent interview for a documentary called “Hold-Up” regarding this . In a video clip of the interview circulating on social media , Montagnier claims that the novel coronavirus does not die with the antibodies that are produced by the vaccines. Instead, it finds “another solution,” and that solution is the variants. He further said , “You see it in each country; it’s the same: The curve of vaccinations is followed by the curve of deaths.”

On the other hand other medical experts say Montagnier is wrong and that science shows the opposite to be true. The experts said that :

  1. Virus mutations occur randomly and independently of vaccination.
  2. Vaccines can play a role in squashing the variants.

How SARS-CoV-2 variants actually develop ?

Let’s see the major points Kartik Chandran, PhD, professor in the department of microbiology and immunology, Harold and Muriel Block Faculty Scholar in Virology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine , stated as a small summary:

He says that “Virus is always mutating and it does a clumsy work at copying its own genetic information and makes many errors every time it copies. This is the reason for the random errors which are the mutations and it’s important to note that the more copies the virus makes the more mutation . Most of this mutation are not adverse or they are harmful to the virus because the mess it up.”


Once in a while a mutant has advantage : it might be being able to grow in a person or spread from one person to another or escape antibodies the person is making. This mutant can successfully become a variant that could be harmful than the current strain of virus. It’s mainly the immune system of people who did not vaccinate that drives the selection of variants that can escape some antibodies. The vaccine can effectively destroy the variants that are currently circulating. Vaccination will tremendously reduce the possibility of virus transferring from one person to another.

Proof that vaccines cause SARS-CoV-2 variants are false:

Peter Stoilov, PhD, an associate professor of biochemistry who is leading the SARS-CoV-2 variant sequencing efforts in West Virginia, described Montagnier’s argument as “completely bonkers (Stupid) . Given below is the explanation Stoilov gave to prove that vaccines produces variants is false . Montagneir bases his argument saying that mutations can change epitope ( part of an antigen that is recognized by the immune system) that the immune system has learnt from the vaccination giving some selective advantage to virus. While Stoilov says, selection does not cause new variants to rise but it selects some of them. 

Mutations and variance occur randomly and independently of vaccination or any other selection process. Harmful variants turned up before vaccines were created and it’s a well known fact that selection doesn’t cause mutations. Dr. Montagneir neglects the important fact that while vaccination may select for some variants it is still effective at suppressing them and resulting in reduction of infections. And he says that Montagneir is mistaking correlation for causation with his claim and it’s not even a usable correlation to make the agreement. If Montagneir was correct how can one explain the decreased disease spread and mortality among vaccinated people. And in places with higher vaccination rates the case numbers and mortality are dropping while there’s one to three variants and no new variant are emerging from vaccinated people. If vaccines were creating new dangerous variants, then Stoilov said we would see proportionately more new variants emerging over time among vaccinated populations than with unvaccinated parts of the world. Even though Nobel laureates words have a lot of assurance this doesn’t mean they always know what you are talking about.
From both Kartik and Stoilov’s arguments we can conclude that vaccines don’t give rise to variants worth concerning . So lets confirm the news before we make up our mind just because a famous person said that , we are humans mistakes happen . 

Conclusion:

So lets not be bothered by this silly rumors and get vaccinated to be free from this deadly virus, creating a safe place for us and everyone around us .
 
Thankyou For Reading
Be Strong Be Safe
May God Bless You All
Subin Joshua
Latest posts by Subin Joshua (see all)
Author: Hi there, my name is Subin Joshua, and I am a Medical student. I grew up in a family of teachers and know that being a social worker is my calling. My passion for helping others has been evident in my involvement in helping the poor and needy for the last three years. Through those experiences, I have learned to interact with a diverse group of people, which has increased my ability to relate to others.