In a revealing peer-reviewed study led by Dr. Nazeeh Hanna from New York University Grossman Long Island School of Medicine, findings suggest that trace amounts of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine components are present in breast milk.
This notable discovery raises discussions about vaccine biodistribution and its implications for lactating mothers and their infants.
The study emerged against the backdrop of the role played by mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in the COVID pandemic and acknowledged the absence of lactating women from most vaccine clinical trials.
It delves into whether “COVID-19 vaccine mRNA is detectable in breast milk (BM) after maternal vaccination and its potential translational activity.”
The research encompassed breast milk samples from 13 healthy, lactating, post-partum women, evaluated before and after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination.
It discovered that “trace mRNA amounts were detected in 10 exposures up to 45 h post-vaccination.”
The mRNA was predominantly found concentrated in the breast milk extracellular vesicles (EVs).
The study elucidates that the mRNA from COVID-19 vaccines does spread systemically throughout the body and is detectable in breast milk.
“Our findings demonstrate that the COVID-19 vaccine mRNA is not confined to the injection site but spreads systemically and is packaged into BM EVs,” the study states.
Nevertheless, the researchers claim that “as only trace quantities are present and a clear translational activity is absent,” breastfeeding post-vaccination, especially 48 hours after vaccination, is considered “safe.”
As the detectable presence of mRNA components prompts a closer look at vaccine biodistribution in lactating women, the researchers urge dialogue between breastfeeding mothers and healthcare providers.
They recommend addressing the benefit/risk considerations of breastfeeding in the first two days after maternal vaccination, keeping in view the unknown minimum mRNA vaccine dose that could elicit an immune reaction in infants under 6 months.
On Wednesday, Republican presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vowed to revoke federal funding for COVID vaccines if elected to the White House next year.
“Certainly, we’re not going to fund them,” he said during an interview with ABC. “I think that the Biden is spending billions and billions of dollars on these. So they’ve done studies. They have not demonstrated the benefit of the boosters.”
DeSantis pointed to the lack of research showing whether the benefits of the new boosters outweigh the potential risks.
The Florida governor also questioned whether the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should be trusted, promising to hold the agency “accountable.”
He argued the CDC misrepresented how effective masking and vaccines were in preventing coronavirus infections, saying that the health body used “flimsy” studies.
“They would make representations which were not true. So the trust that’s been lost, I think has been incalculable and one of the things that I said is when I come in we’re going to have a reckoning about all these COVID policies,” said DeSantis.
“We’re going to hold people accountable, who got it wrong.”
However, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s surgeon general, has advised citizens of the state not to receive the updated booster.
“There’s a new vaccine that’s coming around the corner, a new mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, and there’s essentially no evidence for it,” Ladapo said during the news conference. “There’s been no clinical trial done in human beings showing that it benefits people.”
“There’s been no clinical trial showing that it is a safe product for people,” he added. “[A]nd not only that, but then there are a lot of red flags.”
Source: COVID-19 Vaccine mRNA Found in Breast Milk: The Lancet – American Faith