I was listening to a conversation about potential cancer vaccines from The Spectator and at one point (43:30) Karol Sikora, who's the expert in the conversation, brings up this concern with mRNA vaccines of whether the RNA can insert itself into the genome of host cells and whether this might confer a cancer risk 30 years down the line. I'd never heard this possibility brought up during the height of the discussion about vaccines. Is this a legit concern?

 

Edited June 23, 20223 yr by Alfred001

For the way you described it, the answer is no. mRNA cannot simply hop into our genomes. However, there are mechanisms with which especially viral genetic material can be integrated into our genomes via a variety of means, some of which are derived from the viruses themselves, other due to some mechanisms that eventually got into our genomes during our evolutionary history (such as retrotransposons).

There have been studies suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 infections might result in some integration based on in vitro studies but follow-up suggested that it is either extremely rare or not happening. For vaccines it is important to remember that much less is introduced into your body and only a small part of the viral genome at that. I.e. even if it was true that infection with SARS-CoV-2 could introduce some genetic material into our cells, the likelihood with the vaccine is actually much lower.

I.e. if you are worried about long-term effects, it would make more sense about getting infected with viruses, rather than getting vaccines against them.