Let’s set the record straight about spike protein. This can refer to the protein produced by the SARS-CoV-2 infection but it also refers to the spike antigen produced after vaccination. In both cases, there is significant evidence of harm. There is a distinction between vaccine-derived spike and spike produced during an actual SARS-CoV-2 infection. Studies measuring anti-spike antibodies generally cannot tell you which source produced the antigen unless the study uses methods specifically capable of distinguishing them.

The Evidence

More and more, studies show that SARS-CoV-2 spike protein can still be detected in people after COVID vaccination. Some studies have detected vaccine-associated spike protein or vaccine mRNA after vaccination, particularly in lymph nodes and sometimes blood.

Study 1: Researchers sampled draining axillary lymph nodes from people receiving Pfizer’s BNT162b2 vaccine. They found spike-specific germinal-center B cells persisting for at least 12 weeks. This is evidence of a prolonged immune response to spike, rather than necessarily prolonged free spike protein in the bloodstream. Turner et al., Nature (2021)

Study 2: This is one of the more directly relevant studies. Researchers examined lymph-node biopsies 7–60 days after the second Moderna or Pfizer dose. Vaccine mRNA was detected in germinal centers through day 60, although the signal was lower at day 60. Importantly, spike antigen was also detected in some lymph nodes as late as 60 days after vaccination. Röltgen et al., Cell (2022)

This study is often misunderstood, but very important because it shows that the vaccine-induced antigenic process can persist substantially longer than the first few days after injection, as we were all first told by Pfizer, Moderna, the FDA and the CDC. The study does not demonstrate that large quantities of circulating spike protein remain throughout the body for 60 days. The finding was principally in the draining lymph nodes.

Study 3: This study examined autopsy tissues from recently vaccinated individuals. Vaccine mRNA was detected in axillary lymph nodes in most people who died within 30 days of vaccination and in the myocardium in a subset. It wasn’t detected in liver or spleen. The authors concluded that mRNA vaccines could persist in certain tissues for up to about 30 days.  Krauson et al., npj Vaccines (2023)

Study 4: This was a smaller study that reported detection of a spike-protein fragment in 20 vaccinated participants, with the authors reporting detection in 50% of samples and detection as late as 187 days.

The researchers used mass spectrometry and reported a specific peptide associated with the vaccine spike in 50% of their analyzed vaccinated samples, with detection ranging from 69 to 187 days after vaccination. Their study involved 40 subjects in the primary comparison. Researchers detected a spike fragment and not an intact full spike protein, but the study has attracted attention because of the unusually long detection period. The study’s small sample size is a limitation, however, this study should be and has been repeated, because THAT is what science really is.  You know, follow the science.Brogna et al., Proteomics – Clinical Applications (2023)

Study 5: Samaniego Castruita et al. analyzed plasma from 108 people with chronic hepatitis C and found vaccine mRNA sequences in 10 people (9.3%), with detection from 1 through 28 days after vaccination. This is particularly interesting because it used a method called sequencing to distinguish vaccine sequences from naturally occurring SARS-CoV-2 sequences. It doesn’t mean that 9.3% of vaccinated people generally have vaccine mRNA in their blood for 28 days—the population was specifically people with HCV, and the study wasn’t designed to estimate prevalence in the general population, but it does show that mRNA from the vaccines can persist. Castruita et al – APMIS

Study 6: Nic Hulscher published a study this year regarding the persistence of spike protein. The team analyzed samples obtained more than 3.5 years after vaccination.

Sorting it Out

It’s important to sort out all the information and mechanisms of spike protein. These questions are important to distinguish:

Does the vaccine cause cells to make spike?

Yes. That’s the intended mechanism of the mRNA vaccines.

Can vaccine mRNA or spike antigen be detected after the initial injection?

Yes. Human studies have detected both, particularly in draining lymph nodes, and some studies have detected vaccine material elsewhere. So when they told you the vaccine contents stayed at the injection site, they were wrong.

Does persistent detectable spike cause clinically important disease?

That’s a separate question, and there is more and more evidence coming out every day. Detection of an antigen or molecular fragment doesn’t establish that it is present in a biologically active form, at a clinically significant concentration, or that it is causing symptoms, but we will keep following the science, as they say. Myocarditis is likely the best known example, but there are so many others.

What does the collective evidence say about these 3 questions?

It is well-supported that mRNA vaccines cause cells to produce spike antigen. After all, that is the intended mechanism of the vaccine.

Vaccine-associated spike protein components and mRNA can be detected in human blood and lymph nodes beyond the first few days. Multiple studies have reported detection out to roughly 2–4 weeks, although detection rates vary substantially.

Vaccine-derived spike fragments can be detected months later. Studies are limited and need to be repeated on a larger scale.

What has not been fully scientifically established is that there is persistent spike protein throughout the body for months and that that persistence is a cause of chronic disease.

Does persistence mean harm? It likely does, and this will be shown in the near future. I am certain of that.

Meanwhile, do you really need those studies to tell you that spike protein is something you want to rid your body of?