Experts call on people to trust science as anti-vaxxers spread suspicions

Health and medical experts have hailed vaccines as being one of the major achievements in the fight against COVID-19, but the number of people refusing to get vaccinated has increased over the course of the pandemic despite the fact that they can prevent the spread of the highly infectious virus.

Some opposition to vaccines comes directly from a mistrust of science, claiming that data or messages may be sent to the human brain via mRNA vaccines, which work by providing the genetic code for the cells to produce viral proteins.

Abdurrahman Dilipak, a famous Islamist columnist, is one of those who consider vaccines as a potential risk to health, making unsubstantiated claims questioning scientists' discoveries.

Turkey vaccinated more than 1 million people in the first week of its nationwide rollout of COVID-19 shots.

"If we evaluate vaccines in terms of the potential risk, the most dangerous are mRNA and Sinovac. Both of the vaccines can be life-threatening if an evaluation is made in general," Dilipak said, adding the necessity to first make sure whether COVID-19 is a flu-type virus or a "biological agent" produced in a laboratory.

"mRNA is not a vaccine. It will be used as a vaccine for the first time. Whatever message or data you upload to the 'M' in the mRNA, the 'messenger,' it uploads it to the body," Dilipak noted, asking who can guarantee the negative outcomes if the "message" is corrupted or other messages are uploaded.

However, members of the Science Board of the Health Ministry pointed out that these allegations are conspiracy theories, asking citizens to trust science as the anti-vaccine movement, built on different motivations and reasons, is increasingly widespread all over the world, including Turkey.

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