Inaccuracies feed anti-vaxxers’ fears

Sir, – I feel compelled to correct Dr Charles Wardrop’s statement in the letters page (December 17, “Anti-vaxxer’s

views must be accepted”). The first point the doctor makes is factually incorrect. The MRNA vaccine developed by Biontech/pfizer and Moderna has been in development for decades.

His statement just creates unnecessary anxiety within the readership and unfortunately feeds the fears of anti-vaxxers. There are more than enough conspiracy theories swirling around Covid and its origins, without extending this into the virus development and production.

His statement gives the implication that the vaccine was developed on the back of the proverbial “fag packet” and concocted in a backstreet drug lab.

I recommend an article published in the New Scientist (October 13) which explains the history of the development and testing of this vaccine.

For the readers, development of this MRNA technology started in 1990, where mice were used to produce the proteins for our bodies to detect and manufacture antibodies. Breakthrough occurred in 2005 when another

technology development improved MRNA to increase protein production by 1,000 times.

During 2010, human trials took place for a drug called patisiran. In 2013 100 people were infected by H7R9 bird flu and a vaccine was produced within eight days, showing its development speed.

Big pharma did not see this MRNA vaccine development technology as being a project to invest in. This was a big miss.

So the smaller companies continued development.

Regarding his second point regarding mandatory vaccination programmes being against a “free society” – but free for whom?

Do the rest of society not have a right to be protected from infected individuals?

Omicron is predicted to generate higher infection rates which will translate into higher hospital rates, which means that other critical operations will reduce.

They are the critical outcomes that we as a society must avoid.

Alistair Ballantyne. Birkhill, Angus.