Posted on 01/19/2021 7:23:29 AM PST by Heartlander
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unusual attention to everything from handwashing to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. As we move into the later stages of this pandemic, though, a different scientific concept has dominated the national conversation: vaccines. The study of the human immune system and how vaccines influence it is complex and sometimes counterintuitive, and the deployment of a new method for immunization based on mRNA has made it all the more confusing.
The two vaccines that have received Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) from the Food and Drug Administration are both mRNA vaccines. And since they’re our only hope for ending this pandemic, it’s crucial to understand how they work—and why you should get one.
The exact way our bodies develop this preemptive immunity depends on the kind of vaccine we’re given. Live-attenuated vaccines provide our cells with a weakened version of a pathogen; protein subunit vaccines give just one part of a bad guy, so immune cells know how to recognize that part of a virus or bacterium. But mRNA (short for messenger RNA) vaccines actually provide our cells with the instructions for making a protein from the pathogen, in essence creating their own practice dummy. Our own cells produce the viral protein specific to, say, SARS-CoV-2, and then our immune system learns to recognize the proteins.
While the history of vaccines goes back to the late 1700s, the first experiments underpinning mRNA vaccines were not conducted until the 1990s. Until the COVID-19 pandemic, the only mRNA vaccines given to humans were experimental, and none had been approved by the FDA (Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccines have received EUAs, which require data from clinical trials to prove the vaccines’ safety and efficacy, but don’t require as rigorous a review of the evidence as a full approval does).
Still, if the end goal of each type of vaccine is the same, why does it matter which one is used? The answer comes down to the characteristics of the target pathogen, as well as the timeframe under which the vaccine is being developed.
Live-attenuated or inactivated vaccines (consisting of dead pathogens) are more effective than other vaccine types against pathogens that mutate rapidly, like influenza. However, it’s difficult to produce live-attenuated vaccines for more complicated pathogens, like bacteria and fungi.
Often, one type of vaccine is better than another at producing long-lasting immunity from a particular pathogen. Scientists can’t always predict when and why this will happen, says Susan Kaech, professor and director of the NOMIS Center for Immunobiology and Microbial Pathogenesis.
Another consideration is timing. A typical vaccine takes 5–10 years to be developed, and different types of vaccines take longer than others. The decision to prioritize mRNA vaccine development during the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, was more about speed than any concerns over the efficacies of other vaccine types.
The advantage mRNA vaccines have isn’t necessarily that they’re better at inducing immunity, says Bernard Verrier, the director of the Laboratory of Tissue Biology and Therapeutic Engineering at CNRS-Université de Lyon, it’s that they’re fast. Not only is the initial production of an mRNA vaccine rapid, the manufacturing is reactive, meaning it would be quick and simple to substitute in a different mRNA sequence if the target pathogen mutated. (There hasn’t been evidence yet to suggest the coronavirus protein that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines produce is changing.)
Once inside the cell, an organelle called a ribosome reads the mRNA sequence and translates it into a protein. This process repeats, with some of the proteins being transported outside the cell and others lingering inside. Eventually there are enough proteins that immune cells notice them and begin producing antibodies that bind tightly to the foreign proteins. These antibodies serve as flashing lights to signal other immune cells to come and destroy the pathogen. Enough antibodies can also overwhelm an infected cell without the need for backup.
What’s important is that once a person’s immune system knows how to make antibodies for a specific protein, it’ll retain that knowledge in the form of memory cells. If that person encounters a pathogen with that protein, they won’t need to go through the process of generating the right antibodies—their immune system can go straight to destroying the invader. And because mRNA vaccines only encode a small part of a pathogen, mRNA vaccines can’t cause you to get an infection.
Other vaccines, for example protein subunit types, make use of an adjuvant, which is a substance that jumpstarts the immune system. mRNA vaccines don’t need adjuvants because the mRNA sequences themselves, along with impurities in the form of double stranded RNA, trigger the immune system.
Previously, there had been one key worry for mRNA vaccines: degradation. Natural defense systems would spontaneously degrade the mRNA sequences before they could be turned into proteins. But in the past few years, Verrier explains, researchers have gotten better at purifying and stabilizing the mRNA sequences, as well as developing smaller and more uniform lipid nanoparticles.
Still, mRNA degrades rapidly compared to the components of other vaccines, which is why the coronavirus mRNA vaccines need to be kept at low temperatures. Verrier also says that mRNA vaccines are a “young technology,” and comparatively more expensive than other types of vaccines to manufacture, though as they become more widely used their price will drop. Further trials will also be needed to assess any possible long-term side effects in humans, though based on how short-lived mRNA is inside the bloodstream, researchers suspect the risk of that is even less than that for other vaccines.
The success of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines may pave the way for more mRNA vaccines, says Kaech, both in response to emerging infectious diseases and non-infectious diseases like cancer. Vaccine therapy for cancer would not be preventative, but rather would stimulate immune cells to mount a response against a patient’s tumor based on surface proteins the cancer cells have that their non-cancerous counterparts lack.
“I think the exciting aspect of this, and seeing the success that these vaccines can have, at least for coronaviruses, is that they offer a lot of versatility and are fairly easy to manufacture.” she says. “So, it is exciting in that there’s a whole new form of vaccination products that we could work with in the future.”
I know. South Africa is insane like the Untied States, and England.
Dr. Gold of Frontline Doctors says it’s not a vaccine. It’s an experimental biological agent.
You can get in the US
Getting the script is only the first hurdle
You then have to find a place to fill it
Walmart and Amazon pharmacy will fill HQC and Ivermectin
The problem is getting a Doctor to prescribe it! The sick lady in New York City had to have her family go to Court!?
Astute observation.
I watched it in its entirety. Excellent video. I predict that this video will be blocked by the social media and internet gods and deities. They know what is best for us.
Not sure if you are serious. The information flow in the living cell is as follows: from DNA to mRNA to ribosome to protein, never in the opposite direction. If you happen to discover it, Nobel prize is in your future, congratulations!
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“Here is another perspective...”
The information you posted is not readable. Here is information from the government website that you can read. https://bit.ly/2M8X4Ti
The original article focused on mRNA technology and not other types of vaccines which is what your article addressed. In fact, the original article mentioned that mRNA is relatively new.
I don’t know if there will be long-lasting consequences from mRNA but if you believe the article it seems there will NOT be because of the operational characteristics.
Nonetheless, I’m NOT taking the vaccine for at least 6 months — maybe longer.
That too.
So, one mutation could create a strain that the mRNA vaccine does not prepare you for?!??
It always works that way. Just has to be the right protein, with the right mutation. Most of those mutations are not viable.
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Well if you have hundreds of thousands of viruses (or is it millions) spreading inside of each infected human, and you have hundreds of thousands (or is it millions?) of infected humans, even a low rate of mutation will relatively quickly yield the virus with the mutated protein, and once the mutation is given the chance to spread, your vaccine will become useless.
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How long is a reasonable test run and how long before we know that it is truly safe? Or maybe it is better to rephrase it as “how long before the benefits outweigh the risks.” And when will we know this.
So we must ask ourselves what benefit is to be gained from the vaccine? A healthy younger person has extremely low chance of becoming sick from covid. However, at this time, the risk of complications from getting the vaccine is great.
My trust in the medical system has been severely tested. And when Bill Gates added his two cents, I knew that his endorsement cannot be good. His company is notorious for releasing their product before it was fully tested. People's lives are at risk, not some inanimate object like a personal computer with frequent BSODs (Blue Screen of Death).
What about simple vitamin D, and the fact that people in places like Africa aren't as sedentary as us the majority of Westerners? The lympatic system doesn't have a pump per se, so it requires activity to facilitate movement throughout the the body. At least that is my understanding.
No doubt vitamin d is critical. Also, Malarial type parasitic illnesses are extremely common, so everyone has reserves of the “Sunday Pill” (Hydroxychloroquine)
Again, that applies to all organisms. This one doesn’t know to speed up or become more inaccurate because you are thinking about it.
Fake News!
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