Fact Checking of Credible Scientists Was Meant to Obfuscate the True Science

Let's fact check the fact checkers

“Fact Check” attacks on credible scientists offering their professional opinions based on their interpretation of the scientific evidence was part of a growing trend of attacking, vilifying, and censoring any medical professional or scientist who did not conform to the establishment narrative surrounding COVID-19 and the genetic vaccines. Many highly qualified physicians, virologists, vaccinologists, epidemiologists, and others have been maligned in this way.

The following is one example of such an attack on a scientist with expertise in toxicology. Toxicology is a field of science that helps us understand the harmful effects that chemicals, substances, or situations, can have on people, animals, and the environment.

According to a Health Feedback fact check article, Dr. Janci Chunn Lindsay, PhD., an American scientist and toxicologist claimed that “COVID-19 vaccines will cause blood clotting, fertility problems, and immune escape”, in remarks shared at a 23 April 2021 meeting of the U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in Atlanta, Georgia.

Health Feedback called Lindsay’s claims, “inaccurate” reporting that “The similarity between the human protein syncytin-1 and the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 is too small to cause concerns about potential cross-reactivity” and “COVID-19 vaccines aren’t gene therapy as they cannot modify human DNA.” They also asserted: “Inadequate support: Evidence indicates that COVID-19 vaccines don’t cause any fertility problems in men or women. Such claims are unfounded,” and “Flawed reasoning: Preliminary studies suggesting that the spike protein produced during SARS-CoV-2 infection causes blood clotting can’t be extrapolated to COVID-19 vaccines. The level of spike protein produced through vaccination is much lower, and aren’t associated with the same effects during infection. New variants can arise with or without vaccines, but no evidence suggests that COVID-19 vaccines increase this risk. On the contrary, vaccination might reduce the likelihood of new variants emerging by reducing viral spread.”

Were Dr. Lindsay’s claims really “inaccurate”? Let’s examine each claim and determine what the actual science tells us.

Claim 1: “There is a credible reason to believe that the COVID-19 vaccines will cross-react with the syncytin and reproductive proteins in sperm, ovaries, and placenta, leading to impaired fertility and impaired reproductive and gestational outcomes”

HEALTH FEEDBACK FACT CHECK

“François Balloux, director of the Genetics Institute at the University College London, showed in this tweet that the similarity between the sequences of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and syncytin-1 is too low to result in cross-reactivity and therefore cannot cause an autoimmune reaction against the placenta. Such a small region of similarity is not unique to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and can also be observed in many other human proteins, like hemoglobin, as Health Feedback explained in this review. That review also pointed out that the spike protein of common cold coronaviruses also share small regions of similarity with syncytin-1. If such a small level of similarity was sufficient to lead to an autoimmune reaction against syncytin-1, we would see fertility problems even in people who had the common cold, but this isn’t the case.”

Dr. Balloux brings up an interesting point. Studies have not been done to determine if fertility problems have been an issue with common cold coronaviruses.

WHAT THE DATA SHOWS

The spike protein, against which vaccine manufacturers have used to develop genetic vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, shares a high degree of genetic and protein similarity to human syncytins.

Human syncytins (Syncytin-1 and Syncytin-2) are the product of the expression of the genes of the envelope (Env) of human endogenous retroviruses (HERV). Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are abundant in the genomes of vertebrates and play a fundamental role in mammalian reproduction, particularly in placental morphogenesis and implantation. They are proteins that mediate fusion between cells and have immunosuppressive properties. Syncytins are physiologically expressed during pregnancy: they intervene in the development of the placenta, trophoblast differentiation, the implantation of the embryo in the mother’s uterus and the immunosuppression of the mother’s immune system to prevent allogeneic rejection of the embryo. Syncytin-1 is involved in cell invasion and fusion and thus its role in placentation where it is highly expressed during implantation and development of the placenta, and in the oocyte and sperm head where it plays a role in penetration of the oocyte. Syncytin-2 has also been shown to play a role in trophoblast invasion in placentation.

Source: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00109-023-02385-6

There is sequence as well as structural homology between the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, Syncytin-1 and Syncytin-2.

The protein of mature syncytins is a class 1 fusion protein consisting of a trimer of heterodimers of two subunits, S1 and S2, linked by a labile disulfide bond between the two chains, which is cleaved by furin after S1 binding to the receptor.

This structure of the syncytins is the same as that described for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, also a class 1 fusion protein; the S1 subunit of the spike binds to the receptor and then the separation between the two, the cut made by the enzyme furin from the S1 and S2 subunits, allows the virus to enter the cells.

Dr. Bill Gallaher, Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, examined the similarities between the sequences of SARS-CoV-2 and human syncytins. He discovered alignment of the endogenous elements Syncytin-1 found on human chromosome 7, or Syncytin-2 found on chromosome 6, or HERV-K expressed from chromosome 6, all show a number of sequence motifs with significant similarity to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The alignment showed, HR1a of SARS-CoV-2 and HR1 of Syncytin-1 are directly related to one another.

A second region of genome of SARS-CoV-2 that is of unknown function is the amino terminal region of S2, and it also convincingly aligns with both Syncytin-2 as well as HERV-K. Finally, there is a peptide region in the S1 of SARS-CoV-2 with the critical amino acids characteristic of retroviral immunosuppressive peptides.

It is key to remember that proteins aren’t linear, they fold into secondary, tertiary and quaternary structures. Within the boxed regions, stereochemistry is identical. Any element of the host response that has seen the one in HERV-K would be expected to respond identically to that within SARS-CoV-2 (Wuhan peptide 22).

The spike protein of the SARS-COV-2 contains a smaller region, a peptide known as CP-1 which is particularly antigenic, and it is this region that purportedly contains the sequence which is homologous to the Syncytin-1 protein in humans and primates. Anti-spike protein antibodies and the syncytin-1 protein of the placenta share a “very short amino acid region”. Because of the similarity between syncytins and the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 genetic vaccine-induced antibody responses could trigger a cross-reaction against syncytins, causing allergic, cytotoxic and/or autoimmune side effects affecting human health and reproduction.

After intramuscular injection with mRNA genetic vaccines, the lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) do not stay localized in the injection site muscle cells, but can be found in fluids and tissues throughout the body.

The Pfizer and Moderna ‘vaccines’ consist of mRNA encapsulated in a protective lipid biosphere known as lipid nanoparticles, or LNPs. The LNPs are made of cholesterol, phospholipids, ionized lipids, and PEGylated lipids to protect the mRNA and facilitate its delivery to and penetration into T-cells for production of the spike proteins. Encapsulation of the mRNA inside LNPs showed that the mRNA could be protected from degradation and thereby increased the efficacy of delivery of the mRNA to cells. Once the LNP encapsulated mRNA is injected into the muscle of an individual, some LNPs fuse with muscle cells (myocytes) where the LNPs are taken into the cells. Once inside the cell, the mRNA is released and the cellular machinery of the myocyte starts to translate the mRNA into spike proteins. The spike proteins then present on the outer surface of the muscle cells for presentation to cells of the immune system.

Intramuscular injection is preferred because muscle cells have high vascularity so injected materials can easily reach the systemic bloodstream and lymphatic systems. Some of the LNPs are automatically picked up by the blood and circulated throughout the body to different organs and tissues.

The LNP technology also enabled the mRNA vaccine to reach a broad range of cell types. The problem with mRNA reaching a broad range of cell types is that any cell type which then expresses the spike protein would be subject to attack by immune cells. For example, brain cells that express the spike protein might be marked as foreign by the immune system and cytotoxic T-cells, which kill virus-infected and cancerous cells, might see the spike protein-expressing brain cells as a threat. 

Studies investigating the cellular localization of LNPs carrying mRNA have shown localization of mRNA in the liver, muscle, spleen and lungs after intramuscular injection. One study showed traces of mRNA in the heart, bone marrow, kidney, lung, stomach, rectum, intestines, testes and brain of mice following injection of a LNP encapsulated mRNA vaccine. A biodistribution study performed by the Japanese regulatory agency has shown that a substantial amount of the Pfizer mRNA vaccine settled in the liver, spleen, adrenal glands, and ovaries of rats at 48 hours following intramuscular injection. In this study, the highest concentration of LNPs was found in the ovaries. Another biodistribution study performed by Moderna that was submitted to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in February 2021 found that besides the injection site [muscle] and lymph nodes [proximal and distal], increased mRNA concentrations (compared to plasma levels) were found in the spleen and eye. “Low levels of mRNA could be detected in all examined tissues except the kidney”. This included heart, lung, testis and brain tissues, indicating that the mRNA/LNP platform crossed the blood/brain barrier, although to very low levels (2-4% of the plasma level). “Liver distribution ofmRNA-1647 is also evident in this study, consistent with the literature reports that liver is a common target organ of LNPs.” No dedicated studies on absorption, metabolism, and excretion for mRNA-1273 were submitted. 

When studying the biodistribution of free mRNA it was found that “Only a relatively small fraction of the administered mRNA-1647 dose distributed to distant tissues, and the mRNA constructs did not persist past 1 to 3 days in tissues other than the injection site, lymph nodes, and spleen.” Therefore, naked mRNA can also be found in tissues distant from the injection site.

All sera tested from Pfizer COVID-19 genetic vaccine trial participants were positive for auto-antibodies to syncytin-1 proteins.

In May 2021 a report came out which monitored whether anti-syncytin antibodies were in fact produced in women post-vaccination. In a small study of women in Singapore, they found that every subject studied did develop anti-syncytin antibodies post COVID-19 genetic vaccine, while those that were not vaccinated did not have these antibodies. They did not however, examine duration of mRNA persistence or the clinical significance of anti-syncytin-1 antibody levels. The authors did not test for antibodies to syncytin-2.

Conclusion: Given that proteins key to reproduction are similar to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, lipid nanoparticles were shown to distribute to the ovaries in animal models and all the women in the Pfizer study developed anti-syncytin antibodies, Dr. Lindsay’s contention that there could be cross reaction leading to auto-antibodies which could impact pregnancy and fertility is TRUE.