As we all know, a COVID-19 vaccine is finally here and on the rise! Hurray!! Could this be the vaccine that gets even anti-vaxxers on board? To delve into that topic, let's go over some basics.
How did this vaccine come about? Every vaccine begins with a lot of research and of course, trials. The research portion began with knowledge from one of the courses we are taking this year- genetics! There are three main types of vaccines- mRNA, protein subunit, and vector vaccines. The mRNA vaccine holds genetic material from the virus itself and basically teaches our cells how to recognize and fight the virus off through T and B lymphocytes. The protein subunit vaccine holds proteins that cause COVID-19 (Yale, 2020). These proteins of course are harmless to us, but our body takes them and creates memory cells to fight the virus off. Lastly, we have the vector vaccines which basically are a "watered down" version of the virus itself. The viral vector teaches our body to make copies of COVID-19 proteins and will know exactly what to look for if ever infected (Yale, 2020). And then we have the trials... The trials begin in small groups during phase one and the sample size goes up to thousands by the time it gets to phase 3. After phase 3, the FDA gets involved and ensures that it is as safe as it is effective (CDC, 2019).
Life during COVID is no fun!! Why would people not take the vaccine? Well, some people are afraid that the vaccine was rushed to be made and won't be as safe to take. My take to that- while I understand the fear, we have to better understand the circumstances. Either we let millions of people die from COVID or we take a vaccine and inch towards herd immunity.
Before COVID-19 hit, less than 50% of Americans would lean towards taking the flu vaccine- a vaccine that has been out for years. Polls say now, that 60% of Americans are willing to take the newly released vaccine (CDC 2019). I'd say that's pretty great. When will life get back to being completely normal? I'm not sure, but as of right now, I'm happy to say we're at least heading in the right direction.
A COVID-19 Vaccine Is Coming—Will It Be Safe? (n.d.). Yale Medicine. Retrieved November 19, 2020, from https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/covid-19-vaccine-safety
CDC. (2020, February 11). Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/about-vaccines/how-they-work.html
Great post Sanjana. I feel as though we could be looking at a difficult road to recovery from COVID if there is not mass participation in receiving the vaccine when it becomes available. Most likely if the groups who are at high risk receive the vaccine then we could see a significant decrease in the mortality rate from COVID even if the percentage of people vaccinated is low. But then we always have to consider the 1% of people who are healthy and have the best odds against COVID but still get severely sick and even die. I believe it could happen to anyone. Most of us at this age would not doubt our bodies capabilities of defending from the virus until we realize we could be part of that 1%. Personally, I do not want to take any chances and would rather be safe than sorry.
ReplyDeleteWhat crossed my mind when I heard about the new vaccines was how effective they could be if the virus mutates. I am not to familiar in the science behind vaccines but one article mentions how a mutation in a protein involved with COVID led to a change in the physiology of the virus (Grubaugh, Hanage, & Rasmussen, 2020). Researchers where not able to find any indication that this mutation made COVID more virulent but it could happen as it did in the flu virus of 1918.
Grubaugh, N. D., Hanage, W. P., & Rasmussen, A. L. (2020). Making Sense of Mutation: What D614G Means for the COVID-19 Pandemic Remains Unclear. Cell, 182(4), 794–795. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.06.040