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Blocked Spike

Is a Canadian veterinary school professor correct that public health officials made a colossal mistake and have injected millions of Americans with substances that cause the body to manufacture toxins that will injure them? No, that's not true: Experts in human vaccine development contradict Byram Bridle's description of spike protein behavior. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data do not support his claim, either. At the time the claim was posted, the mRNA vaccine had been in widespread use for six months in the U.S, with almost 300 million people at least partially vaccinated. The CDC's safety monitoring system has investigated post-injection deaths and found none caused by the vaccines. Multiple peer reviewed studies show the vaccine does what it is supposed to: train the human immune system to recognize a protein found on the SarsCoV-2 virus and attack it, building the patient's immunity against infection with the virus that causes COVID-19.

The claim appears in an article (archived here) published by halturnerradioshow.com on May 31, 2021, titled "Doctor on COVID Vax: "We Screwed-Up. We didn't realize the Spike Protein is a TOXIN" which opened:

Does this mean everyone vaccinated is manufacturing their own Spike Protein Toxins in their own bodies? Audio from a radio show has emerged wherein Dr. Byram Bridle reveals the scientists behind the COVID-19

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Doctor on COVID Vax: "We Screwed-Up. We didn't realize the Spike Protein is a TOXIN" Does this mean everyone vaccinated is manufacturing their own Spike Protein Toxins in their own bodies?

Audio from a radio show has emerged wherein Dr. Byram Bridle reveals the scientists behind the COVID-19

Bridle acknowledged that his comments were scary, but concluded his radio show appearance with this summary:

We made a big mistake. We didn't realize it until now. We thought the spike protein was a great target antigen. We never knew the spike protein itself was a toxin and was a pathogenic protein. By vaccinating people we are inadvertently inoculating them with a toxin.

The voice identified as Bridle says mRNA vaccines cause the body to generate spike proteins that injure various human organs:

It is a toxin. It can cause damage in our body if it gets into circulation. Now we have clearcut evidence that the vaccines that make the cells in our deltoid muscles manufacture this protein...that the vaccine itself, plus the protein get into blood circulation...It can also cross the blood-brain barrier and it can cause neurological damage.

The article on TheHalTurnerRadioShow.com quotes Bridle saying new research from Japan shows the spike causes vascular and neurodegenerative problems, not the virus. "The spike protein gets into the blood, circulates in the blood ... it accumulates in a number of tissues such as the spleen, the bone marrow, the liver, the adrenal glands ... the ovaries"

But a Pfizer spokesperson said Bridle is misquoting the data from Japan:

The "Japanese biodistribution study," referenced in the online article appears to be a Japanese translation of a Pfizer toxicology and biodistribution study, which shows nothing like what is being claimed. Our toxicology study showed a benign safety profile with just the expected inflammation associated with an immune response to the vaccine. With more than 350 million doses administered globally, the safety profile remains very similar to the benign profile observed in the phase 3 study. In addition, in a study in mice, levels of the encoded protein are back to near baseline 9 days after injection. So, there is no evidence of high persistent levels of expressed protein present in an immunized individual.

A columnist/blogger for the American Academy for the Advancement of Science said Bridle's description is not how the mRNA vaccine-generated spike proteins behave in the human body.

In his May 4, 2021, article, organic chemist Derek Lowe, a Ph.D. who works in drug development (not for Pfizer nor Moderna), said the image of spike proteins tumbling through the body ignores the process by which the proteins are made and hosted in the body:

... when a cell gets the effect of an mRNA nanoparticle or an adenovirus vector, it of course starts to express the Spike protein. But instead of that being assembled into more infectious viral particles, as would happen in a real coronavirus infection, this protein gets moved up to the surface of the cell, where it stays. That's where it's presented to the immune system, as an abnormal intruding protein on a cell surface. The Spike protein is not released to wander freely through the bloodstream by itself, because it has a transmembrane anchor region that (as the name implies) leaves it stuck. That's how it sits in the virus itself, and it does the same in human cells.

In a June 7, 2021, email to Lead Stories, the media relations director for Pfizer, one of the makers of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19, refuted Bridle's "toxin" claim. "There is no piece of the virus or toxins in the vaccine," Steve Danehy, wrote.

Pfizer's website describes the mRNA vaccine's function as follows:

mRNA, delivered to your body's cells by lipid nanoparticles, instructs the cells to generate the spike protein found on the surface of the novel coronavirus that initiates infection.¹ Instructing cells to generate the spike protein spurs an immune response, including generation of antibodies specific to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. mRNA vaccines do not contain any virus particles, meaning that they don't contain weakened or dead parts of a virus or bacterium.

The FDA's documents laying out support for use of the Moderna, Pfizer and Janssen mRNA vaccines to fight the pandemic do not support Bridle's claims that the vaccines sicken patients. Based on tracking the effects on tens of thousands of patients, the FDA found the benefits of the vaccines outweigh potential harms. The Janssen vaccine was briefly put on hold to investigate a half-dozen clotting issues out of millions of patients vaccinated. After developing specific warnings for doctors and patients, the vaccine was released for use again.

Bridle is a Ph.D. immunologist. An associate professor at the University of Guelph (Canada) Ontario Veterinary College, he researches vaccinations against cancer and host (body) responses to viruses and other inflammatory stimuli. Bridle's university bio says he received graduate training in immunology at the University of Guelph and then postdoctoral training as a viral immunologist at McMaster University.

Lead Stories contacted the Ontario Veterinary College to learn if it or the University of Guelph endorse Bridle's statements. The dean of the veterinary school, Jeffrey Wichtel, emailed Lead Stories on June 8, 2021, to say it does not endorse them. He wrote, in part:

As stated in our Policy Statement on Freedom of Expression, 'To achieve its purpose and fulfill its mission, the University is committed to the principle of freedom of expression, which includes freedom of speech and means the ability to examine, question, critique, investigate, enquire, speculate and communicate on issues without deference to prescribed doctrine.'

Specifically, opinions expressed by U of G faculty or researchers are their own; they do not reflect the opinions of the University.

The University of Guelph has stated publicly that vaccinations are an important step in bringing us safely out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The University is strongly encouraging everyone who is eligible for vaccination to get vaccinated.