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QUESTION ON NOTICE

Question:

10 November 2022

Senator RENNICK: Maybe it’s a statement. Let’s move on to the next one. The other night I asked you about blood tests and donating blood after three days. You said there’s no reason why the spike protein would be in the actual blood. Firstly, in the actual non-clinical evaluation report from the TGA it says there is no actual testing of the spike protein in the clinic itself. To say that you wouldn’t know that it’s in the blood – you wouldn’t actually know that because, as it says here, there is no distribution and degradation data on the S-antigen encoding mRNA, that is, the spike protein. The same question to you. The other night you said, ‘It wouldn’t be in the blood.’ My question to you is: how would you know that if there is never any testing done on the spike protein, firstly? A study published in May 2021 documented for the first time that S-proteins were found in 11 of the 13 subjects as early as one day after the injection of, in this case, the Moderna vaccine. Prof. Murphy: Where? Senator RENNICK: In the blood. They found the spike protein in the blood. Studies have found spike proteins in the blood as early as one day after the actual vaccine. Prof. Murphy: All I can say is that I’m happy to take that issue on notice again and get Professor Skerritt to respond on the full dataset that we have around this issue. I’ve not seen any evidence that spike proteins are detected three days after vaccines in any studies that I’ve seen. But I’m not across all of the literature. If it’s a legitimate question I will get the TGA to address it. Senator RENNICK: You wouldn’t find that evidence because there were no studies done, according to this TGA report. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. They are two separate things. […] Prof. Murphy: I certainly didn’t say that, but Professor Skerritt may have. We’ve let him go now. Again, we’ll take it on notice to come back to you on that issue. I have really strong confidence in our regulatory process. We now have real-world evidence of many billions of doses of these vaccines. We believe that they are incredibly effective and incredibly safe. Professor Skerritt said we only had I think 14 confirmed deaths associated with vaccines, and many of them were with AstraZeneca. I really do have great faith in our regulatory system.

Answer:

Question Number: 84
PDR Number: SQ22-000439
Date Submitted: 10/11/2022
Department or Body: Department of Health

A whole-body imaging study with a surrogate mRNA expressing luciferase protein encapsulated in the lipid nanoparticles used in the Pfizer vaccine indicated that the expressed protein was mainly localised at the injection site and distributed to liver. Spike protein expression was detected in antigen presenting cells in draining lymph nodes and spleen in mice after injection of the Moderna mRNA vaccine. The spike protein expressed by COVID-19 mRNA vaccines in blood circulation was not measured in nonclinical animal studies. In a recent publication, available at: https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/74/4/715/6279075, very low levels (in pg/mL) of a fragment (S1 subunit) of the spike protein were detected in the plasma of 11 out of 13 human subjects from one day to nine days after the first injection. The full-length spike protein was only detected in three out of 13 subjects from day nine to 29. The S1 protein rapidly disappeared, associated with the induction of anti-S1 and anti-spike antibodies. After the second vaccine dose, no S1 or spike protein was detected.