03/06/2026
Here's a picture of my lovely boy, Hollyvale Aizawa Shouta, to get your attention. Now that you're here, I'd like to have a very small teaching moment regarding vaccines.
I encountered someone recently who was concerned about mRNA being in some vaccines now, and did not want to vaccinate their kitten as a result, so I'd like to take a moment to educate about what exactly mRNA is, and why it might be included in a vaccine.
I am not a medical professional just yet(working on the degree now! ^_^)but I promise you that while I do not know every single detail of this subject, I do have a good grasp on what I am talking about.
Anyhow, let's get started.
MRNA is the abreviation used for messenger RNA, which serve as a transcription of the DNA that resides in the interior of a cell's nucleus. DNA is too big to leave the nucleus, so it sends out a code for how to build more DNA in smaller pieces called RNA. It's nothing spooky.
Vaccination works by showing weakened or dead versions of a dangerous illness to the cells of the immune system so that they can make antibodies against that illness, some of which are stored in the thymus gland for later use.
When the T cells later encounter that illness in it's real form, they already have the blueprint of those antibodies, which can be replicated and deployed before the virus can get a foothold in the body.
Otherwise, it takes the immune system about 10 days to create brand new antibodies for things it has never encountered before, and for some illnesses, it is too late at that point. The virus already has such a strong foothold that the abtibodies aren't enough to wipe it out faster than it can replicate, so serious and possibly fatal illness occurs.
The reason Rna would be used for this process is that it is a much smaller piece of a virus.
A weakened virus has the potential to shed and might infect those with weakened immune systems with a mild form of the illness, which while mild, could still be dangerous to someone with a compromised immune system.
A dead virus might be in danger of not having been completely killed by the chemical or heat process they use to kill them. Viruses can be incredibly resilient organisms, and some individual strains are stronger than others.
However, messenger rna is literally just a picture of that virus' genetic code. It does not have the necessary parts to hijack the nucleus and ribosomes of a living cell, which it would need to actually go through the process of translation(building genetic code from the blueprint mrna provides) like a whole virus does.
Remember that viruses use our cells to replicate themselves. That is their method of reproduction. Without our cells, they cannot spread.
Offering mRNA in a vaccine is actually much safer than injecting a weakened or killed virus. It's the equivalent of handing our immune cells a picture that says "hey, watch out for this guy!" Rather than dropping a co**se or dying bad guy at their feet and saying "there's more where this came from, watch out for them!"
I've simplified this explanation a lot, but that's basically the gist of why mRNA is now being used. It removes and element of risk that was present in the older vaccines to make a safer product.
That is not to say they vaccines reactions can not still occur, as sometimes the body is simply straight up allergic to a preservative or particular protein used as a binding medium, but the mRNA itself would not be a factor in that unless a person happens to have an allergic reaction to that virus. In which case, they would have also had a bad(and probably much more severe) reaction to encountering the whole, live virus later in life).
I would still argue it is better to breed kittens that can tolerate exposure to vaccines than those that can not. The alternative is relying on natural selection for viral resistance, which has a MUCH higher rate of attrition. You are likely to lose many more kittens that way then you would simply breeding for vaccine tolerance.
I am willing to accomodate low/no vaccine placements, provided the kitten's new owner fully understands the risks involved, but I would like it to be known that is is not my preference, and those risks would not be covered under my health guarantee.
