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Dear Editor;
I am writing regarding the article in your January 6th edition. You published an article from Mark Lipinski, Scientist, regarding the effects of the mRNA vaccine on children. In his statement, Lipinski touted Robert Malone as the inventor of the mRNA vaccine and then continued to quote Mr. Malone on the the harmful effects of the vaccine. This article was full of misinformation and it is disheartening to see this published. First, parents who have had their children vaccinated may now feel frightened or guilty by the misnformation that was conveyed in this article. Secondly, parents who may have had doubts may now adamantly decline getting their children vaccinated. I firmly believe in choice, but I also feel misinformation should not be perpetrated in our media outlets.
In truth Mr. Malone's contribution to the mRNA vaccine was the idea to use lipids to enable a vaccine to be more effectively delivered. This by no means gives him the title of inventor. Mr. Malone was banned from Twitter for violating their Covid-19 misinformation policies. He was also removed from You Tube after a controversial interview he did with Joe Rogan on a Spotify podcast regarding the dangers of the vaccine. Mr. Malone has perpetrated several false and misleading claims about both the vaccine and the pandemic. His claim of being the mRNA inventor and his ability to speak articulately has appealed to anti-vaccine audiences. Mr. Malone compared vaccine efforts in the United States to Nazi Germany.
In truth the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine resulted from decades of research involving countless Researchers. This technology is now being used to look into other diseases such as ALS, diabetes, and Cancer. This technology uses a genetic code to tell the body to produce proteins that the immune system recognizes as the virus, thus training the immune system to defend against disease. Dr. Katalin Kariko and Dr. Drew Weissman are considered the inventors of the mRNA technology. They collaborated at the University of Pennsylvania to develop the blueprints for this vaccine. Weissman began his work in 1998. Since the development of the mRNA vaccine, 360 million doses of the vaccine have been given in the United States and 197 other countries.
As stated in Politifact, "Scientists can be flawed, make mistakes, be misguided and can even spread misinformation." I am not a Scientist. I do have a degree in Science and I have worked in the medical field for 34 years. I have seen first hand what the virus can do. I believe that everyone has the choice to get vaccinated or not, but I strongly believe people need to have accurate information to make informed decisions.
Laurie Wallace
Mineral Point,WI