The way the Covid-19 crisis ends is with vaccines — not a vaccine.

Some of us might end up getting a shot of a more traditional vaccine, while others might get vaccines based on emerging technologies http://trib.al/bdJDtjC ">https://trib.al/bdJDtjC&q...
Scientists have created more than 70 vaccine candidates so far, including Merck& #39;s.

“If we end up with two, three, or four vaccines, that’s good, since we have seven billion people,” says Harvard vaccine researcher Dan Barouch http://trib.al/bdJDtjC ">https://trib.al/bdJDtjC&q...
In the end, some vaccines might be extremely effective but harder to scale; others the opposite.

Even a less-effective vaccine might provide herd immunity. Other vaccines might be more appropriate for health care workers, who risk exposure on the job http://trib.al/bdJDtjC ">https://trib.al/bdJDtjC&q...
So how do vaccines work? All vaccines have to provide a danger signal to “prime” the immune system into acting against an invader.

Next, the vaccine has to mimic the invader in order to get the body to create antibodies that target the enemy http://trib.al/bdJDtjC ">https://trib.al/bdJDtjC&q...
Vaccine designers using genetic material (DNA or RNA, the single-stranded cousin of DNA) have to stimulate the immune system enough to generate those antibodies, but not so much that the immune system destroys the vaccine before it can complete its mission http://trib.al/bdJDtjC ">https://trib.al/bdJDtjC&q...
The excitement surrounding Moderna’s RNA-based vaccine followed the release of data from a trial that involved 45 humans.

Out of eight volunteers, all produced antibodies with the desired “neutralizing” property needed to attack the virus in the future http://trib.al/bdJDtjC ">https://trib.al/bdJDtjC&q...
All the novel vaccines work through the same well-established scientific principles, and are very likely to be safe.

Still, it’s well-known that vaccines don’t work as well in the elderly and immunocompromised http://trib.al/bdJDtjC ">https://trib.al/bdJDtjC&q...
Imperfect vaccines could still eradicate the virus through herd immunity but only if the bulk of the population gets vaccinated.

Once the technical hurdles are overcome, there will be social hurdles — there& #39;s already anti-vaxxer resistance http://trib.al/bdJDtjC ">https://trib.al/bdJDtjC&q...
The competitive nature of science has changed. Everyone understands how much is at stake in terms of lives and economic damage.

Right now, we need all the ideas we can get http://trib.al/bdJDtjC ">https://trib.al/bdJDtjC&q...
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