Last week, a new peer-reviewed paper published in Frontiers in Immunology has sparked concern over whether mRNA shots could be weakening a person’s immune response.
The small study involved 29 children aged 5-11 years. Blood samples were taken from the children before and 28 days after a second dose of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine. Samples from eight children were also analysed at six months.
Researchers found that vaccination resulted in reduced levels of cytokines – molecules that play a crucial role in mobilising an immune response against viruses and bacteria.
“Our study showed that, in children, SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination decreases inflammatory cytokine responses,” wrote the authors.
This study builds on a previous pre-print in adult volunteers, that showed Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine could modulate the response of immune cells to non-specific viral fungal and bacterial infections.
The two studies are small, and the clinical outcomes were not assessed, so researchers cannot prove that mRNA vaccines increase a person’s susceptibility to “non-specific” infections in the real world.
However, this phenomenon has been shown to occur with other vaccines that are currently on the market.
In low-income countries with a high infectious disease pressure, so-called “non-live” vaccines such as the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) vaccine have been associated with increases in all-cause mortality and morbidity.
Christine Stabell Benn, epidemiologist, and professor at the University of Southern Denmark, is at the forefront of studying the phenomenon of “non-specific” effects of vaccines.
