Alright i’ve done some research on the new COVID vaccine, here are some important things i’ve found!

side note: this vaccine isn’t guaranteed to be a way out, and there are still so many questions around it that need answered. this is just to let you know what it’s about!

Pfizer and BioNTech have been working together to create a vaccine for COVID. there are quite a few vaccines in the experimental stages, with around 10 looking promising such as the Oxford university vaccine. this one is the first to come out with results from testing!

this is typically how a vaccine works: a weakened/dead version of the pathogen (which is a disease-causing organism such as viruses, bacteria. in this case it’s covid) will be injected, the body will create an immune response to this by producing antibodies.

antibodies are our body’s ‘front line defence’ in a way, they help the body destroy the pathogen. these antibodies are extremely important for killing viruses, and that’s why you may have heard a lot about antibodies, and how some people don’t produce them after having covid.

the really interesting thing about this new vaccine in particular is rather than injecting a dead/weakened state of the pathogen, it instead uses an mRNA sequence that contains part of the viruses genetic code, and injects that into the patient.

the mRNA vaccine is injected and enters the cells, telling them to produce the coronavirus antigen, which it will display on its surface. the antigen on a pathogen is the part which causes the immune system to produce antibodies. it’s a lock and key system.

this ‘lock and key’ system means that only a very specific antibody will be effective against a specific antigen. without this specific antibodies, the virus will just kick aboot as if it’s own the gaff

this in turn will also cause the activation of T-cells, which are a type of white blood cell that have a variety of jobs. they can be ‘killer cells’, so be used to help kill any pathogens. there is also memory T-cells, which remain alive after the pathogen is killed.

this memory they hold of the pathogen will allow the immune system to have a quicker antibody response if it ever comes into contact with that specific pathogen again. remember- specific antibodies will only work with specific antigens. that’s why this memory is so important!

the vaccine is in the final stage of testing, and has been to this day tested on over 43k people from a variety of countries such as the US and germany. it’s taken in two doses- after the second dose, it’s been found to give 90% protection in the next 7 days after the 2nd dose.

go on the tweet in this thread before this one i’m replying to for more of the thread, i messed up which one i added to LMAO but there’s more to read if y’all are interested!!