CLAIM: COVID-19 mRNA vaccines alter recipients’ DNA by changing its shape to a “triple helix.”
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The vaccines do not edit humans’ DNA. Social media posts are misrepresenting a years-old Moderna patent application regarding RNA technology that was not specific to the vaccines.
THE FACTS: There is no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines are editing humans’ DNA, experts have told The Associated Press. The false claim, which has been shared repeatedly on social media, has surfaced again, this time in posts that allege the mRNA shots change DNA to a “triple helix.”
DNA is made of two linked strands that appear like a twisted ladder, referred to as a double helix. RNA is closely related to DNA, and one type, called messenger RNA or mRNA, sends instructions to the cell for different purposes. The mRNA in the COVID-19 vaccines helps train the body to recognize a protein from the coronavirus to trigger an immune response.
In one TikTok video that also appeared on Instagram, a woman claims: “The magic potion, if you actually read the patents, it is adding a triple helix.” She also claims that it adds cytosine, “which comes from a meteorite, or a fallen star.”
Another Instagram video claims that “this new technology they came out with introduces a third strand, through mRNA messaging technology it actually breaks a strand and puts in a third strand, which creates a triple helix.” Both videos baselessly posit that the vaccines are satanic.
But the videos distort...
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