Vaccine Confusion: Weinstein & Heying on Bill Maher’s Real Time

This edition of The Jab is a response to The Bill Maher Show appearance of Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying. It appears in recorded form on Conspirituality 37.

On the show, a conversation about vaccine safety was unfortunately marked by an absence of data and leaned toward vaccine hesitancy or suspicion. Weinstein asserted that the individual risks of vaccines were being downplayed. Maher agreed, calling this gaslighting, and saying that he just wanted to be told the truth. Heying expressed caution about new mRNA technology.

On the positive side, Maher’s expert guests did self-identify as amongst the most heavily vaccinated people on the planet due to their extensive travel, and Weinstein’s past research involving bats. So they are not anti-vaxxers. But there was a lot of confusion about the distinction between the AstraZeneca and the Moderna and Pfizer Covid vaccines; confusion that was never cleared up during the segment. So let’s do that now:

All three of these vaccines in current distribution focus on the characteristic spike protein of SARS COV-2, but in two different ways. By itself, the spike protein is harmless. Think of it as the crowbar that the virus uses to get into our cells. The vaccines work by getting certain cells to produce this unfamiliar spike protein which then triggers an immune response that will later be armed and ready for when the real virus comes along and tries to take over using that same kind of crowbar. The vaccines all have this same end goal, the difference lies in how they achieve it.

The AstraZeneca vaccine uses a DNA snippet of the spike protein, taken from the virus that causes Covid. That harmless snippet will begin the process of building immunity as described above. In order to deliver the spike protein instructions to those cells, this vaccine uses an adenovirus. The adenovirus used is one that causes something similar to a common cold in chimpanzees. It has been modified so as not to be able to infect humans or replicate —and then has had the spike protein snippet added to it. This may sound like a science fiction horror movie premise, but the technology is specifically designed to safely mimic how a viral infection occurs, and activate your body’s natural immune response.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines essentially do the same thing, but instead of the DNA spike protein snippet, they use something called mRNA. This messenger RNA is a synthesized blueprint or code for the spike protein —which, as with the previous method, teaches the cells to create the spike protein and trigger an immune response. Because mRNA has a high turnover rate, it is broken up and disposed of after it has done its job. To deliver the mRNA these vaccines use a coating of lipid nano-particles that protect it from being broken down before it gets to its destination, much the way certain vitamins or extended-release medicines do. These fatty nanoparticles are suspended in a type of saline solution along with some salts and sugars that manage the acid/alkaline balance in relation to the body.

Now let’s focus on the segment on Real Time in which Heather Heying and Bill Maher went back and forth a little on whether or not to trust the mRNA vaccine, given that it is a newer technology. For this reason, they both expressed finding it a little suspect. Confusion ensued because Maher doesn’t have enough basic knowledge on the topic and Heying came across to him as trying to hedge her bets. What was not clarified, is that the use of adenoviruses for human vaccines is also a new technology —even though (as Heying did try to explain) the strategy of using a snippet of actual virus DNA has a long and successful history in vaccines. 

Though they are new, scientists have been studying mRNA for use in vaccines since 1989, and despite adenoviruses having been studied for a variety of applications since the 1950’s they are also being used for the first time now in a human vaccine. It’s worth noting that forthcoming vaccines from Johnson & Johnson and CanSino Covid vaccines also use adenovirus. To summarize, in the mRNA vaccine, the active ingredient that stimulates the immune response is the new tech, but in the adenovirus vaccine, the way of delivering the active ingredient (in this case spike protein DNA from the SARS COV-2 virus) is the new tech.

What would have been incredibly useful in comparing these vaccines for Maher’s roughly two-million viewers, is data. What does the science show in terms of both efficacy and any side effects so far? Well, in both cases the data has been nothing short of remarkable, with the two mRNA (Pfizer, Moderna) vaccines boasting 95% efficacy and Astrazeneca showing as high as 90%. Is there any data that supports the mRNA being riskier though? Well, it turns out that all three vaccines have very similar incidences of moderate side effects —all of which are consistent with the effective activation of the desired immune response. These include injection site pain and flu-like symptoms, including fever, fatigue, headaches, and muscle pain. 

What about more severe side effects? AstraZeneca phase III trials were done on over 23,000 patients, the rate of serious adverse reactions was 0.7% in those who received the vaccine, and 0.8% in the placebo group. Pfizer had over 43,000 in their phase 3 trials, with a serious adverse reaction rate of 0.6% with 0.5% in the placebo group. Moderna had over 30,000 participants with serious adverse reactions in 0.6% in both those who received the vaccines and the placebo group.

Many will correctly point out that this is all relatively short-term data from trials. They are correct. By definition, there is no long-term data on new vaccines. But in the research history on vaccines, longer-term side-effects typically emerge within 30 to 45 days. This is why the FDA emergency use authorization is only possible after at least 50% of participants in the phase III trials have passed the 60-day mark. Contrary to speculation, these vaccines weren’t rushed at all in terms of safety trials. What was sped up was the funding and the focus —and vaccine scientists were also able to build on existing science regarding gene sequencing, mRNA, and adenovirus-vectors that was already accelerating the development process. This is why we have fairly quickly developed, highly effective, and by all current measures, very safe vaccines for Covid.

Please see the show notes on the original episode linked at the top for citations on all of the figures quoted here.