How does the coronavirus vaccine work?

The covid-19 pandemic forced us to change the way we live. During the last year, we had to stay in lockdowns and endure numerous restrictions. That’s no way to live our lives. Even though, after long waiting, we, at last, have a coveted vaccine, many people are concerned that it was created too fast. They hesitate to get it for fear of the vaccine’s aftereffects.

Are these doubts and fears legible? Will the coronavirus vaccine really harm us even more than the virus? One of the doctors who created the technology behind the vaccine assures us that it’s not the truth.

While there is nothing remarkable about the containers that store the vaccine, the technology inside every vial can be categorized as a medical breakthrough.

Dr. Elizabeth Ransom, the Baptist Health Executive Vice President and Chief Physician Executive stated that while they are very happy to finish the Pfizer vaccine, having it doesn’t mean anything unless people will agree to get the shot. If the majority of people don’t get the vaccine, that will pose a serious problem because we won’t ever get to that level where the Covid-19 will wash out of the system. The virus will persist, and there’s no way to know who will survive it and who won’t.

According to researchers’ estimations, in the U.S., at least 200 million people (70%) need to get the vaccine to create herd immunity.

How does the Coronavirus vaccine work?

We know how the Covid-19 virus looks. It has little red parts, what the scientists call “spike protein,” – noted Ransom. Those spike proteins help the coronavirus get into a person’s healthy cells, making them sick.

So, the doctors designed the vaccine in such a way to target those spike proteins. It used messenger RNA technology to achieve that goal. Researchers managed to code the mRNA in the Covid-19 vaccine to go into a person’s body. After getting there, it creates only the spiked proteins around a healthy cell, but it doesn’t inject a live virus into the body. However, the body will see the spiked proteins as a threat, creating antibodies against them, and they work against the real Covid-19 virus as well.

Ransom stated that if your body is actually infected with the coronavirus, but it’s already been exposed to those spike proteins, the virus won’t be able to get into healthy cells, and you don’t get sick.

Furthermore, the mRNA technology, which they are using, is not new. The researchers have been working on it for at least the last 22 years.