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The vaccine contains no actual part of the virus. It has only the instructions on how to make the asshole protein. So, you can’t get infected with COVID from the vaccine. You just get these instructions.
Your cells see these instructions and say “sure, I’ll make this”. So your cells make a bunch of the asshole protein.
You immune system sees this new protein you’re producing and immediately says “what... the fuck... is this?” And it starts attacking the protein.
You immune system sees this new protein you’re producing and immediately says “what... the fuck... is this?” And it starts attacking the protein.
Remember it hasn’t seen this protein before. It takes awhile to ramp up production. Then it launches an all out war against the asshole protein. The fevers, chills, muscle soreness, etc you might get as vaccine side effects is your body bombing the hell out of the asshole protein
So you destroy the asshole protein (which in and of itself can’t infect you, it’s just a protein, not the virus).
Now here’s the important part. Your memory cells ‘remember’ the asshole protein. They remember exactly how to destroy it.
Now here’s the important part. Your memory cells ‘remember’ the asshole protein. They remember exactly how to destroy it.
By the way, your body breaks down the mRNA instructions that you got with the vaccine pretty quickly too. That’s normal. You don’t need a bunch of instructions hanging around forever. Your body breaks those down and gets rid of them.
So you’ve broken down the mRNA instructions. You’ve destroyed asshole proteins. Everything from the vaccine is gone.
Except for those memory cells who remember that protein very well.
Except for those memory cells who remember that protein very well.
So then, a COVID virus enters your body. Your body has never seen the virus before.
BUT it’s seen that protein that’s on the outside of the virus. Your memory cells say “you’ve got to be kidding me, THIS asshole again? Get the fuck out of here!”
BUT it’s seen that protein that’s on the outside of the virus. Your memory cells say “you’ve got to be kidding me, THIS asshole again? Get the fuck out of here!”
Your body’s own ‘natural immune system’ quickly and efficiently launches an all out war, using the template it has from when it destroyed the asshole protein last time. It destroys the virus before it can take hold, replicate, and make you sick.
Congratulations! Now, you’re immune to COVID! You’ve got the blueprints to defeat it as soon as it enters your body.
What if the virus mutates so it doesn’t produce the asshole protein any more? Well, since it uses the asshole protein to get into your cells, if it mutates away from the asshole protein, it’ll probably also be less infectious. That’s what makes the vaccine low-key brilliant.
This is correct. Sorry, I got caught up wanting to explain our own DNA-RNA process and went on autopilot. COVID is an RNA genome meaning it just uses the RNA directly instead of transcribing from DNA. The rest is the same. https://twitter.com/ryvy/status/1339640855381102593
We don’t know for sure. We have a very long memory for some viruses and shorter for others. We’ll have to see for this one. Sometimes we make up for a shorter memory with a “booster” vaccine some ways down the road. Like a little reminder. https://twitter.com/wowzers93/status/1339640917205127168
Probably not. Most of the viral load comes from replicating in your body, not exposure. But remember the vaccine is 95% effective, not 100%. A lot of that depends on how robust your own immune response is to the protein and how effective your memory cells are towards it. https://twitter.com/toxicnacho/status/1339641511445553153
Reinfection from a virus you’ve had before could be because the virus mutated (in which case it’s technically a different virus) or because your ‘memory’ or that virus wasn’t as strong as you’d like. https://twitter.com/gillyballs/status/1339643571104669697
I saw this awhile back and it’s, of course, brilliant. I wanted to break it down to step more basic than this and throw in a few more swears but Rob’s video here is fantastic. https://twitter.com/scientistswanda/status/1335988328362090500
Not by any way I can see. Your immune system, in all this, is working exactly the way it’s supposed to work. It attacks the foreign object and then remembers it for later. Your immune system at no point is altered. It’s out there doing it’s thing. https://twitter.com/wrigley_n8/status/1339688356142170112
Hey everyone, there’s a lot of great questions that people have attached to this thread and I’m trying my best to answer them, but there’s a lot. Also, some are beyond my knowledge.
You immunology / ID nerds out there, feel free to jump in in the replies.
You immunology / ID nerds out there, feel free to jump in in the replies.
There’s lots of questions about allergies in the thread. Here’s the best thread I’ve seen on it so far.
tldr; don’t be TOO worried about allergies. https://twitter.com/kimberlyblumen1/status/1336819108688621568
tldr; don’t be TOO worried about allergies. https://twitter.com/kimberlyblumen1/status/1336819108688621568
Friends I’m very happy people found this useful. Two things
1) If you have specific questions about whether the vaccine is okay for ‘you’ b/c your other conditions, (often autoimmune) please talk about it with your doc. That’s better than info from random me who doesn’t know you.
1) If you have specific questions about whether the vaccine is okay for ‘you’ b/c your other conditions, (often autoimmune) please talk about it with your doc. That’s better than info from random me who doesn’t know you.
2) There’s SO many excellent questions and I can’t answer them all even if I ‘didn’t’ have a job and my own kids to be a father to. So I’ll do my best, but thank you to all the wonderful science nerds going through and answering for me. I see you, I appreciate it! 
Ok, some more things. People wondering my credentials. I’m a physician, but not an immunologist. I’m actually a psychiatrist, but my job at the U of Saskatchewan is in medical education. So I try to explain complex stuff in simpler ways.
(And I don’t ‘usually’ swear so much!)
(And I don’t ‘usually’ swear so much!)
Also, remember, we get a vaccine to protect ourselves, but more importantly to protect others around us, especially those who ‘can’t’ get the vaccine (or 5% who aren’t immune). We do this for each other, we get through it together. Get through the winter friends. Spring is ahead.
The 2nd dose is the same as the 1st and is there to make sure you get a good enough immune response for longer memory. ‘Maybe’ 1 dose would be enough but we don’t know yet. They did the trials w/ 2 doses to make sure it works. Extra target practice for your body! https://twitter.com/shannonkeever/status/1340106238416187394
We don’t 100% know yet. If you’re immune, you’re killing the virus quickly so it doesn’t have much time to replicate & spread. The Moderna trials showed less spread in vaccinated ppl who got the virus but had no symptoms. But less spread doesn’t mean no spread. 1/2 https://twitter.com/hakuna_mat_tata/status/1340164544572866560
We’ll know more soon, but it’s safe to say once you get both doses: 95% chance you’re immune, you ‘probably’ spread less, but should still mask & try to distance so YOU’RE not the asshole spreading the virus to people who haven’t got the vaccine yet. At least till cases drop. 2/2
Here’s a thread on a common theme of questions I’m getting in the replies: What if I already got COVID and then get the vaccine?
Related to that is how long immunity lasts. https://twitter.com/wheatnoil/status/1340533257641684992
Related to that is how long immunity lasts. https://twitter.com/wheatnoil/status/1340533257641684992
Some have asked about the differences between Moderna and Pfizer. This article has it and is just a great summary of effectiveness and side effects. https://twitter.com/wheatnoil/status/1340545755258343424
On mutations and the strain circulating in the U.K. right now. Or, as I decided to call it (for no good reason) the sweater-vest asshole. https://twitter.com/wheatnoil/status/1341079970961997824
