Videos circulating on multiple social media platforms falsely claim that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling classifies people who received mRNA vaccines as “patented goods.” The videos claim that the vaccines altered recipients’ DNA such that they are no longer considered humans and can be denied human rights. This false claim has circulated several times since COVID-19 vaccines were rolled out.
The persistence and widespread nature of myths that mRNA vaccines affect genetic material increase their risk. Debunking messaging may explain that the claim in the video is based on a misrepresentation of a 2013 Supreme Court case unrelated to mRNA vaccines or therapies. The case ruled that a company that discovered genetic mutations that increase breast cancer risk could not patent those genes but that synthetic genes made in a lab could be patented. Patients who receive patented medical interventions like pacemakers and insulin pumps do become patented goods as a result.
