Bonkers Republican bill in Idaho would make mRNAbased vaccination a crime

News Summary

  • In the case of COVID-19 vaccines, the bit of genetic code is for making a critical protein from SARS-CoV-2 called the spike protein, which typically juts out from the surface of the virus and helps it invade human cells.
  • Beth Mole - Feb 20, 2023 10:11 pm UTC Two Republican lawmakers in Idaho have introduced a bill that would make it a misdemeanor for anyone in the state to administer mRNA-based vaccines—namely the lifesaving and remarkably safe COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
  • By 2019, Moderna and the NIH set out plans for a clinical trial of an mRNA vaccine against the Nipah virus.Generally, the vaccines work by delivering to our cells a snippet of artificially stabilized genetic code—in the form of messenger RNA—which is packaged in a fatty coating.
  • But their bill, HB 154, proposes that "a person may not provide or administer a vaccine developed using messenger ribonucleic acid [mRNA] technology for use in an individual or any other mammal in this state."
  • Although the shots do carry some risk (as is the case for any medical intervention), they have proven remarkably safe amid widespread use of hundreds of millions of doses in the US and worldwide.
  • Already this year, the company reported findings from a late-stage clinical trial indicating their mRNA-based vaccine against RSV (respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-uhl) virus) was highly effective.
Enlarge/ The Comirnaty (Pfizer/BioNTech) and Moderna COVID19 vaccines.17 with Two Republican lawmakers in Idaho have introduced a bill that would make it a misdemeanor for anyone in the state to [+5456 chars]