MRNA VACCINES, UNICORNS AND BLACK HELICOPTERS

BY DR. TONY FRAZIER

I read the article. I looked at the date it was published to make sure it was not April 1 (April Fool’s Day). It was published April 13. The title of the article published by The Associated Press was, “No, farmers aren’t required to vaccinate livestock with mRNA vaccines.” Actually, I had heard of this myth that was being spread on social media a day earlier from someone I know who has a local meat market selling home grown beef to customers who want to buy “locally grown beef.” He informed me that the rumor implied that farmers were being required to vaccinate their cattle and hogs for COVID with mRNA vaccine so that when humans ate the meat, they would theoretically be vaccinated against the disease. I just kind of blew it off as one of those, ‘’you can read anything on social media” until he told me he had thousands of dollars of orders canceled due to the vaccine myth.

He said that because his meat was USDA inspected, they did not trust the government and believed they would try something like that. Listen folks, I grew up watching "Fantasy Island" (The plane!! The plane!!), but they couldn’t even come up with something this far out in left field.

Before I get any further into this article, let me take care of a little housekeeping. First, it doesn’t matter to me how you feel about the COVID mRNA vaccine. If you think it works or might work, take it. If you think it doesn’t work, don’t take it. That is completely up to you. I will still be your friend either way. Second, while I am not a board-certified immunologist, I have studied virus replication and how vaccines are made, which should give me some degree of credibility to discuss the matter. And finally, how you feel about the government is also your business. However, I have spent most of my career working with USDA animal health and meat inspection officials and I can tell you that they are not involved in any black helicopter schemes. I cannot attest to any other area of the federal government, and while we may not always see eye to eye on every subject, USDA’s and my mission are basically the same. To promote the general health of our flocks and herds and to make sure that when you pull up to the drive-thru and order a double cheeseburger or chicken fingers that there is an abundant and safe supply available.

The ability to vaccinate a human by having them eat meat from an animal that has been vaccinated against a specific disease still belongs on "Fantasy Island" or "The Jetsons" or some movie about the year 2525.

So, let’s look at some of the information that caused people to cancel orders from a local meat market. First, one of the rumors on social media was that farmers were being required to vaccinate their livestock with mRNA vaccine. Let me set the record straight. There is no requirement that any vaccine be given to any livestock at the present time. That is not to say that if we have a foot and mouth outbreak or some other potential disaster like that, we may require vaccination of animals in a certain geographic area around the positive herds. There are also sometimes requirements for certain vaccines to be given before animals are shipped overseas or even interstate. But for any livestock just out in the pasture or going to harvest there are NO required vaccines. I think vaccines are great. They are more than worth the effort to vaccinate against blackleg, respiratory viruses, shipping fever and reproductive diseases. But that is strictly a producer’s choice.

Then there is the issue of the mRNA vaccine.

Most of us had never heard the term mRNA until after COVID hit. I remember the term messenger RNA from my days in veterinary school when I took virology. It turns out that messenger RNA is a normal step in how many viruses multiply. I won’t go into much detail on virus replication, but if you have ever had the flu, influenza uses messenger RNA to hijack your own cells and reproduce viruses that make us sick. And by the way, messenger RNA is a step involved in normal protein synthesis. And while there may be some research going on to use mRNA vaccines against livestock diseases in the future, there are currently NO mRNA vaccines approved for use in livestock. And finally, I feel obligated to address the consideration that eating meat from vaccinated animals could vaccinate a human for a disease could be nice for those who hate to get shots, but that technology will probably not be developed during my lifetime. I would never say anything is technologically impossible. Thirty years ago, I wouldn’t have thought they could have invented something like the iPhone. But the ability to vaccinate a human by having them eat meat from an animal that has been vaccinated against a specific disease still belongs on "Fantasy Island" or "The Jetsons" or some movie about the year 2525. While oral delivery of vaccines would be easy and advantageous, there are only a few licensed oral vaccines. This is because most vaccines are too vulnerable to being destroyed by stomach acid and digestive enzymes. One person on social media asked what temperature was needed to cook the meat to get rid of the mRNA. I cannot answer his question exactly, but I can say that protein synthesis and virus reproduction generally are halted by somewhere around 110 degrees Fahrenheit. If it weren’t for the damage high fevers cause to the host body, getting the body temperature up around 115 degrees would likely stop all virus reproduction in the body. Unfortunately, it would also likely kill the host.

As I said earlier, I am not trying to convince you one way or the other about the COVID vaccine. I am not selling vaccine. However, I am trying to set the record straight about this myth that there is a government conspiracy to get the human population vaccinated through feeding them meat from vaccinated livestock. I do believe that there are a lot of issues that should keep us awake at night. But this is not one of them.