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A vaccine with messenger RNA triggers an immune response. Dr. Jennifer Hsu is an infectious disease physician at Sanford USD Medical Center.
“Essentially, this messenger from the vaccine is prompting our cells to present a small piece of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the spike protein that’s harmless to us, to our cells, so then our cells are prompted to make antibodies.”
The vaccine does not use fetal tissue or live coronavirus cells, but some people are still nervous about injecting genetic material into their bodies. Dr. Hsu says the mRNA dissolves once it’s done its job, and it doesn’t alter a person’s DNA.