Unintended Risks of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines: A UISS Simulation Study on Immune and Organ Health

In 2019, humanity witnessed one of the most violent and dangerous pandemics ever seen: SARS-CoV-2 emerged suddenly, spreading rapidly across the world. The speed of its spread and the severity of its infections - with clinical symptoms ranging from flu-like manifestations to various forms of pneumonia, and even death due to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) - made SARS-CoV-2 one of the deadliest members of the coronavirus family. This triggered an urgent, global search for new technologies capable of curbing its spread and mitigating its effects as quickly as possible. In this context, mRNA vaccines established themselves as the most promising solution for a rapid response, even though the long-term effects of using this technology in vaccines remained unclear. Here, we shed light on the mechanism of action and potential side effects of mRNA vaccines, using the Universal Immune System Simulator (UISS) for in silico simulation of the human immune response.