ok boom so some context on that new rona stopper that pfizer & biontech dropped. this might be long, bare w/ me. for the sake of tweets lets call it “the pv”. there was a doc released by the fda 12/8 that pretty much analyzed the findings on the research behind pv & how it works

the pv focuses on messenger rna, or mrna (which makes sense because that’s biontech’s speciality). mrna is a type genetic material that pretty much tells our cells which protein to make.

mrna vaccines could be seen as a faster type because dna ones translate genetic code into rna in order for the cell to make protein, but mrna is already good to go and be used to make protein.

the difference from a dna vac vs mrna one is like having a translator help you with a convo with a local vs the translator knowing what u want & tlking to the locals w/o you around. its cuts out a step also mrna can't really change ur dna because its not dna. its a different code

just like words in english can’t be just blended in with words in arabic, because its not arabic. you’d have to translate it. both are way easier to mass produce than regular vaccines that have a live weaker version of the disease (like measles),

b/c its way easier to recreate a genetic code in a lab vs growing a new strain for every vaccine dose. what the mrna does in the pv is create a spike protein like that of the rona. (its literally called corona because of the spikes in its shape)

so in a nutshell the spikes in the rona bind to your cells & has your body fighting off the infection, makes you sick, etc. the pv makes those spike proteins on the surface and inside of some cells already in your body so ur immune system could get used to them & build up defense

so when the opps pull up in your body, your immune system already was hip and have built up antibodies (kinda little bulletproof vests) that keep the actual virus from binding. And boom no sickness.

in terms of being skeptical i get it. obviously w/ a virus that has literally shut down the olympics (olympics have only been shut down 3 times ever before this due to WWI & II) its a lot a stake. its a lot of money involved in getting people back outside,

enough money make u think they're rushing it. especially when you see how they are handling the rona here. plus the history of black people and medicine malpractice (i.e tuskegee) & the fact the pharmaceuticals is a business first, especially in the us. so here’s some facts

the pv is seen to be 95% effective based on 2 months of monitoring. concluded to be safe but couldn’t guarantee for ppl 16yrs <, pregnant, & compromised immune systems. the side effects are mostly mild w/ the most common being fatigue, headaches, joint, fever, chills.

there is muscle pain and reaction at site injection but thats no different than the a vaccine like the measles. less than 1% of ppl had serious side effects, and were ruled out as caused by the pv. and heres why they did a double blind study,

meaning neither the researchers or subject knew who receive a placebo & who received the vaccine (its the best way to eliminate bias). subjects were from 4 different countries, mostly us, but also argentina, brazil, & south africa. over 20% were over 65 & the average was 51 y.o .

about 51% men/49% women. about 82% white, 26% latinx, 4% asian, 10% black & 3% from other groups. most ppl who had preexisting issues in the trials had diabetes or pulmonary disease. they don’t really know how it lasts after 2mths, which is why they recommend 2 doses.

now i know the idea of rushing the vaccine is a thing, but they did make it through phase 3 of testing, (which can take years at time and typically has a sample size from a few hundred to a few thousand) & had a sample size of 36,523 (way above average)

some drugs approved by the fda, can take up to 10yrs to get through all phases & have a median cost of 19 mil usd for clinical trials alone but pfizer was given 1.95 bill usd just in july for funding so budget wasn’t really a problem which cuts down time and up’s resources.

also the fda sometimes approves smaller and shorter trials in order to get it to the streets. its all super tricky really because this is all happening fast and its a lot at stake. in so littler time. so i'm not here to judge you either way but here’s some info at least.

i got all the links here if ya wanna dig deeper.

http://www.fda.gov/media/144245/download

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines/mrna.html

https://www.fda.gov/drugs/development-approval-process-drugs/how-drugs-are-developed-and-approved

https://www.pnas.org/content/117/21/11727#:~:text=To%20enter%20host%20cells%2C%20coronaviruses,1%20B%20and%20C).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6631684/

https://time.com/5808216/olympics-canceled-history/

https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/07/22/us-government-engages-pfizer-produce-millions-doses-covid-19-vaccine.html

https://www.fda.gov/patients/drug-development-process/step-3-clinical-research#Clinical_Research_Phase_Studies

https://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2018/cost-of-clinical-trials-for-new-drug-FDA-approval-are-fraction-of-total-tab.html#:~:text=Clinical%20trials%20that%20support%20FDA,Bloomberg%20School%20of%20Public%20Health.

*little time was typing too fast.