When foreign messenger RNA enters your cell, there are toll like receptors that can identify them and start a cytokine inflammatory cascade and also type 1 interferon. In particular, toll like receptor 7, which detects mRNA, is associated with autoimmune diseases like lupus.

This is a rare adverse event. The medical community is trading uncertainty about these rare events to potentially stop the pandemic and save hundreds of thousands of lives. It’s a risk to benefit ratio on a societal level and I get it. But let’s be honest about what we’re doing.

I will take the vaccine and take the risk with the full understanding about what could happen. But everyone should have the same understanding of the risks and the benefits and come to their own informed decision. That is what it means to be honest and ethical in medicine.