A recent Belgian study on coronavirus vaccines has been read by millions of people after it was shared on social media by anti-vax campaigners. The anti-vaxxers claim that the study shows that there is a link between coronavirus vaccines and so-called “turbo cancer”, a phenonium that is not recognised by scientists. However, one of the scientists that worked on the research Sander Eens says that the study proved no such thing. “There is not a single piece of scientific evidence, neither in our study nor elsewhere that points to there being a causal link between mRNA-vaccines and cancer.
Belgian study on coronavirus goes viral due to “completely wrong interpretation” by anti-vaxxers
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"Our research set out to check the reliability of a Chinese study that claimed that if certain species of mice were given too high a dosage of the Pfizer vaccine this could result in inflammation of their heart muscles. We injected 14 mice with the vaccine twice in two weeks. Another group of mice were injected with placebos”.
Two days after the mice had been given a second dose the scientists found one of the mice that had been given the Pfizer vaccine dead in its cage. “The animal had developed lymphoma. We found this striking, so we published a report. This provided the impetus for further research," Mr Eens told VRT News.
A few weeks after publication Mr Eens and his colleagues' study went viral as antivaxxers claimed that it was “proof” of the existence of so-called “turbo cancer”.
However, "This is a complete misrepresentation of our findings”, Mr Eens said. “Nowhere in the report did we use that term. We also stressed that there was no evidence of any link with vaccine. We said that there were signs that the mouse could have had had lymph node cancer before it was vaccinated.
Nevertheless, prominent antivaxxers such as the controversial Canadian doctor William Makis shared the Belgian scientists’ work on what was then still Twitter. Dr Makis has often spread fake news about coronavirus vaccines in the past. Dr Makis claimed that the study “proves that mRNA vaccines cause turbo cancer”.
"Turbo cancer" is a term that has been doing the rounds for some time now among anti-vaxxers. It implies that coronavirus vaccines cause fast-growing tumors or cancers. However, to date there is no scientific evidence to back this up.
Dead mouse
In early May, doctoral researcher Sander Eens and his colleagues from the Cardiovascular Diseases Research Group (UAntwerp and KU Leuven) published a short report in the scientific journal 'Frontiers in Oncology'. In the report, they discussed how a mouse had died just a few days after receiving a second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
Worried Americans
Sander Eens told VRT News that "Here you see how social media can amplify something and spread it without any sense of nuance. As a scientist, you do not want your work to be misinterpreted. The COVID-19 vaccines have proven to be extremely safe and effective in fighting the pandemic. To date, there is no scientific evidence whatsoever of a causal link between mRNA vaccines and of cancer. This was also the case in our research."
The scientist went on to say that he had received several emails from concerned Americans. "They told me about people close to them that developed complications after having been vaccinated. I cannot judge whether what they told me is correct. However, they had incorrectly interpreted our study as evidence of this.”
Phenomenon
Sander Eens says that it is a great pity that his research has been misinterpreted in this way. "It has been hijacked. Nowhere in the publication do we mention "turbo cancer" or do we substantiate that the lymph node cancer in the mouse was caused by the vaccine. In fact this was not is not a study into the mouse’s death, as was claimed online. It is a case study report, a report of a curious finding that requires further research. As scientists we reported on it, because it is important for the scientific community and for patients. It could encourage further and larger-scale targeted research. In the meantime we have injected more than 70 mice with the mRNA vaccine. None of these animals developed any form of cancer".