Introduction

Years ago, an image of what seems like pink paste went viral on many social media platforms. Supposedly, this “pink slime” is the famous McDonald’s McNugget. Although McDonald’s cleared up the misunderstanding, claiming they discontinued the use of the pink paste and even going as far as filming the actual process of meat production, the photo of “pink slime” perhaps altered one’s perceptions concerning the consumption of chicken nuggets. The long-lasting effect of fake news is damaging. A video posted by Dolores Cahill on January 12 at 1:46 pm was circulating around Facebook spreading misinformation regarding the recent mRNA vaccine. The video, “Why people may start dying a few months after the Gates vaccination” gained the attention of 154,000 people. The speaker, Dolores Cahill uses outdated vaccine studies to prove why and how “people may start dying a few months” after the vaccination.

Dolores Cahill: Professor, “Molecular Biologist and Immunologist / Ireland” (5:14)

Dolores Cahill is a professor at University College Dublin, a medical school in Ireland. She “was the chair of the right-wing Irish Freedom Party” but had recently resigned (factcheck.org). In November, she helped create the “World Freedom Alliance”, whose members claimed Covid-19 is a “hoax”. Dolores Cahill promotes many false Covid-19 claims on her few social media platforms. She stated the mRNA vaccine has nanoparticles that can be used to track civilians. She believes mRNA vaccines will “probably have allergy, neuro-cognitive issues, and inflammation, and of course infertility is the major one.” There is not enough evidence for the claims she has made. 

1. “[mRNA] goes into your genes and starts expressing and it starts stimulating immune response from inside your body and it literally you can’t get rid of it because the source of the viral protein, you now become like a genetically modified organism.” (5:05)

Dolores Cahill insisted the mRNA vaccine will permanently be within the body, individuals will never get rid of it: “But you never can, because it’s now a part of who you are. It’s integrated and we now, the people getting it, become a genetically modified organism that will be making a virus protein as well as their human one.” (5:35) However, this is simply not true. After the spike protein is made, the body will get rid of the mRNA. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “[t]he cell breaks down and gets rid of the mRNA soon after it is finished using the instructions.” The statement, “you now become a genetically modified organism” is misleading. Cahill never mentioned anything concerning mutations, changes in DNA, caused by the vaccine. Even if she did, the “mRNA never enters the nucleus of the cell”, the nucleus is the location of DNA (CDC). However, the mRNA vaccine does “stimulat[e] [an] immune response”, this is just the process of how vaccines are used to strengthen the immune system (5:10). The vaccine is injected into the body and the body uses the mRNA as the “instructions” to make a protein, the spike protein. The spike protein is a protein that “found on the surface of the virus that causes COVID-19.” (CDC) Following the translation, the process of protein making, the immune system reacts to the spike protein by assembling antibodies, the body recognized the spike protein does not belong in the body. The mRNA is later broken down and as a result of antibody production, the immune system knows how to react to a future infection. The mRNA vaccine prevents serious fatal consequences of Covid-19. 

2. “The disease was enhanced by the prior vaccination” (2:34)

Minutes into the video, Dolores Cahill displays another screenshot regarding an RSV vaccine trial study. She explains how Antibody-dependent enhancement resulted in the death of two children: “Most of the children who were given this RSV vaccine, which had the same issue, most of the children experienced severe disease with infection that led to a high frequency of hospitalizations — and two children out of 35 died. And the conclusion from this was that the disease was enhanced by the prior vaccination.” (2:18) Dolores Cahill uses this study to justify her statement that mRNA vaccine will directly cause an exponential growth in the number of deaths. However, even though the RSV vaccine was a “formalin-inactivated vaccine”, just like some of the mRNA vaccines, “[n]either COVID-19 disease nor the new COVID-19 vaccines have shown evidence of causing [antibody-dependent enhancement],” the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia reports (factcheck.org). Furthermore, “[p]eople infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, have not been likely to develop ADE upon repeat exposure” (factcheck.org).

3. “But suddenly the antibody response will activate and realize ‘oh my god, this viral protein is in every cell of my body so then the antibody starts attacking your cells and your organs and so what I have been saying since May is what people will die is they will go in like septic shock and then they will go to organ failure” (6:22)

As reported by Dolores, mRNA remains in the body, consequently, the “antibody [will start] attacking your cells and your organs” (6:32). Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system overacts and targets the body’s own organs rather than the virus. Autoimmune diseases can be caused by “autoantibodies”, antibodies attacking the protein and cells of a person. Victims of serious and fatal Covid-19 symptoms had interferon, an immune system protein, that was under attack by antibodies. By getting rid of interferon, the virus can easily reproduce quickly causing the person to get very sick. Khn.org ‘s article, “Coronavirus Deranges the Immune System in Complex and Deadly Ways” written by Liz Szabo, a reporter who has been giving accounts of medicine for over two decades among with winning multiple awards for her works, reveals “[w]hile some patients studied had antibodies against virus-fighting interferons, others had antibodies that targeted the brain, thyroid, blood vessels, central nervous system, platelets, kidneys, heart, and liver, said Dr. Aaron Ring, assistant professor of immunology at Yale School of Medicine and lead author of the December study, published online without peer review.” However, there isn’t much evidence to prove that mRNA vaccine or Covid-19 could cause these autoimmune diseases. It is shown that some had autoantibodies prior to Covid-19 on the other hand some developed it while having the virus. Harvard Medical School professor, Dr. Shiv Pillai “notes that autoantibodies aren’t uncommon. Many healthy people walk around with dormant autoantibodies that never cause harm.” (Khn.org) 

Cahill uses the paper from 2012, “Immunization with SARS Coronavirus Vaccines leads to Pulmonary Immunopathology on challenge with SARS virus” to explain further and to defend her statement. She states, “The animal models after being challenged got very sick and some of them died.” (1:08) According to Dolores Cahill, the death in mice was caused by “Antibody-dependent response”, “cytokine storm”, “immune priming, “immune superpriming” from the vaccine (1:24). After contacting the lead author, Chien-Te Tseng, of the study, “Immunization with SARS Coronavirus Vaccines leads to Pulmonary Immunopathology on challenge with SARS virus”, whose website that the study was posted on, based on the opinion of NewsGuard’s, “is a platform that publishes content from its users that it does not vet. Information from this source may not be reliable,” Reuters clarifies the mice did not die from the vaccine. In fact, the mice who did receive the vaccine “generated strong and highly protective antibody responses which fully protect immunized mice against lethal infection”. In addition, the vaccine used on the mice and the mRNA vaccines are “very different vaccine platforms,” the vaccine in the study is a live virus (Tseng).

Similarly, as stated by Dolores Cahill, the Cytokine storm is also associated with mRNA vaccines. Dolores Cahill explains, “people get very very ill very quickly with this cytokine storm” after vaccination and contacting the virus again (2:00). Cytokine storm occurs when the immune system delivers an extreme immune response that could present itself with even more serious issues like organ failure and death. Cytokines are cells that communicate with one another by signaling molecules. It is a part of the immune system. Some cytokines help get other immune cells, others can assist in antibody production or pain signaling, make blood clot occur more easily, and cause inflammation in which the blood vessels tend to be leakier than it usually is. Several symptoms of cytokine storm may be nausea and vomiting, shortness of breath, rapid breathing, seizures, tremor, difficulty coordinating movements, confusion and hallucinations, lethargy and poor responsiveness, very low blood pressure, increased blood clotting, affects multiple organ systems, and could lead to organ failure and death. The respiratory symptoms from Cytokine Storm Syndrome could get worse and become acute respiratory distress syndrome. Those with ARDS may need additional help to get oxygen through ventilation. Cytokine storms sound awfully similar to serve symptoms that emerged from Covid-19 and the claims Dolores made regarding septic shock and organ failure from mRNA vaccine. However, based on the article “What Is Cytokine Storm Syndrome” written by Ruth Jessen Hickman and medically reviewed by Anju Goel, “[m]ost people with COVID-19 do not develop cytokine storms and its symptoms. Certain people may be more vulnerable to developing cytokine storms from COVID-19 if they have the specific genes that make their immune system react in certain ways.” Cytokine storms could manifest because of genetic problems, infections from viruses, bacterias, and other specific kinds of autoimmune syndromes, specific types of cancer, side effects of certain medical therapies, and medical situations like receiving an organ transplant. Those who did get Cytokine storm from Covid-19, do have hope. There are treatments, like therapy, to block the activity of a cytokine, even so, scientists are studying if this could help those who developed cytokine storms from Covid-19. Then again, the Cytokine storm develops through Covid-19, not the mRNA vaccine. Ultimately, receiving the shot could actually benefit the people, protecting them from the virus and Cytokine storm.

The bottom line, antibodies will never start to attack the body and the organs. The mRNA is not in “every cell of [the] body”. Like what the previous paragraphs say, mRNA does not stay in the body forever. The body will get rid of it once it finishes the translation of the protein-making process. 

Conclusion

It is important to recognize the misinformation that spreads around social media. Not only did Dolores Cahill post false information to 150,000 people, she also caused harm to the community. Videos can be easily spread all around the world and the views will continue to increase unless Facebook, or other sites, regulate these videos. Even if only a few percent of the viewers believed the video, that’s still someone putting other people’s lives in danger and their own. Covid-19 can spread rapidly, without proper guidance and facts, who knows how long it will take to go back to “normal”.

It is important to recognize the misinformation that spreads around social media. Not only did Dolores Cahill post false information to 150,000 people, she also caused harm to the community. Videos can be easily spread all around the world and the views will continue to increase unless Facebook, or other sites, regulate these videos. Even if only a few percent of the viewers believed the video, that’s still someone putting other people’s lives in danger and their own. Covid-19 can spread rapidly, without proper guidance and facts, who knows how long it will take to go back to “normal”.

Featured image provided by Trinity Care Foundation from flickr.

2nd image is a screenshot from a Facebook video titled “Why people may start dying a few months after the Gates vaccination” from the user Dolores Cahill.