Just talked to the microbiologist hubby and he is VERY excited about the Pfizer Covid vaccine. I had him break it down in simple terms so I could understand it, so I thought I would share how it works and what it could mean for us./1

(Thread) https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/11/09/health/pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-effective/index.html

FYI: I've seen some folks online being wary of the Pfizer announcement as it is self-published. While it is important to be careful of medical news not being published in peer reviewed journals, it is standard practice for drug companies to announce vaccines first to the field./2

The data from their clinical trials is then presented to the medical/scientific community for scrutiny & further assessment. This is to say, there is usually a lot of research & testing that goes on before a vaccine is announced. A premature announcement could mean big $ loss./3

Therefore, it is in the company's best interest to be careful in the testing phase and transparent in the methodologies and results.

Now...onto the vaccine! How does it work? It is pretty ingenious, according to the hubby./4

The goal of a vaccine is to produce antibodies so your immune system recognizes the virus when exposed to it and attacks it quickly. To do this, vaccines introduce the virus in a safe way as not to infect the person. It can be done in a variety of ways. /5

A flu vaccine, for instance, is manufactured by replicating (growing) the virus in chicken egg cells. The virus is then deactivated ("killed") before being injected into the human. The process of growing the virus in a lab takes months before it can be made into vaccines./6

This Covid 19 vaccine is different. Instead of growing up batches of the virus in egg cells (which would take a lot of time), it is an mRNA vaccine. The RNA of the Covid virus for the vaccine is created in labs and doesn't need to be "grown" like a live virus. /7

In other words, it is much faster to chemically create RNA than wait for a whole virus to replicate in chicken egg cells, be chemically treated to deactivate the virus, then made into a injectable solution. An RNA vaccine skips these steps./8

RNA is kind of like a temporary blueprint that a cell "reads" and copies to make DNA. Viruses, as a general rule, inject RNA into human cells & "hijacks" the mechanisms in the cell to create DNA then RNA, etc. It is how it replicates in us and spreads to make us sick./9

Now this vaccine is pretty cool because it doesn't contain the full Covid 19 RNA strand. (That would be dangerous as it could replicate.) Instead, the vaccine left out the parts that make the virus "work" and replicate in our cells. Instead, it contains just parts of it./10

The vaccine has enough of the Covid 19 RNA parts for our bodies to create the needed antibodies to make us immune. Think of a car that has been stripped of the engine and a wheel or two. The car won't run, but we'd have enough parts to identify the make and model./11

The vaccine works the same way. The white blood cells will be able to identify it as a bad guy, create antibodies just for it, and be primed to attack if it ever comes into contact with the live virus./12

Without all the Covid 19 RNA parts, there isn't any way these parts could be reassembled into a "live" virus that could replicate, thus making this kind of vaccine very safe. But that isn't the best part./13

Our bodies are already primed to degrade RNA. As it is only a temporary blueprint, when a cell is done with it, it has proteins that specifically snip up and degrade the RNA strands./14

Thus, when the C19 RNA parts are injected into our bodies, it will only be around a very short time, just long enough for antibodies to form. The proteins in us will find the C19 RNA parts and destroy it, basically leaving no trace. It is another safety mechanism./15

BUT THAT ISNT EVEN THE BEST PART.

Are you ready for this?

The vaccine is 90% effective.

To give you an idea of how astounding that is, last year's flu vaccine had an effective rate of 29%. If they hit 50%, it is considered highly effective. /16

This Covid 19 vaccine is NINETY PERCENT effective. You really can't get better than that. It looks like an absolutely incredible vaccine. So...what happens now, you ask? Here is a projected plan./17

There needs to be a bit of a waiting period to make sure that there are no adverse side effects months on in the human trial. This is just to make sure they didn't miss anything. Then they can make the vaccine in factories. The first batches will roll out a few months later./18

The first set of vaccines will go to our healthcare workers. They are at higher risk of contracting and spreading C19; this will eliminate healthcare worker illnesses due to C19 as well as quarentines, thus freeing up more people to help treat the sick./19

A few months after that, there will be enough vaccine made to start giving it to the public. This will also take time. Adding it all up, we could be back to normal by the end of 2021 or early 2022./20

That is, if we can convince the anti-vaxxers to get the vaccine. Without herd immunity (via vaccine...you know...THE SAFE WAY), Covid 19 could continue to pervade our population and wipe out the most vulnerable. WE NEED EVERYONE WHO CAN TO GET THE VACCINE. /21

The cool thing about Pfizer's RNA vaccine is that it doesn't use eggs, which means that it will be safe for people with that allergy. With it's design and how it is manufactured, very few will not be able to get it. It looks like a very smart, sleek, ingenius little vaccine./22

I also cannot express how fast this came about. Usually this stuff takes years. We went from worldwide pandemic to a very promising vaccine IN LESS THAN A YEAR. Is your mind not blown?!?! What a time to be alive!/23

Also worth noting, this company and vaccine was NOT a part of Trump's Warp Speed project. He is taking credit for this, but this wasn't his baby. Don't let his lies fool you. This was all Pfizer and the people working in collaboration on this project./24

So there you have it. It is very exciting! If the vaccine works as they say it does, this would be one hell of an amazing way to end a mostly crappy year. YAY SCIENCE!

[Below was the diagram the hubby drew while explaining all this to me. Good luck interpreting it!]/END

[Antivaxxers will be blocked. If you are one, please unfollow. I believe in actual science and the expertise of medical professionals. Vaccines save lives. The end.]

[Oh hey...and QAn0n and other Covid conspiracy fans are also being reported and blocked here tonight. Block anyone who says Covid was manmade and intentionally released or some such nonsense; it's a Q conspiracy theory. Science proves otherwise. Stay safe & stay smart, everyone!]

For those wanting to see the official Pfizer press release with big fancy science words and stuff in it, you can find it here:

https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-announce-vaccine-candidate-against

Here is the CDC report on the effectiveness rates of flu vaccines by year, if you want to take a peak at what a "good" vaccine effectiveness rate looks like and why a 90% rate on this Covid vaccine is pretty darn amazing:

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/past-seasons-estimates.html

Footnote: My brother is part of the trials for this vaccine! I have to commend him. It was unclear at that point what side effects could occur, so he took a risk for us all. Luckily, he has experienced no side effects so far (if he did get the vaccine & not the control group).

The cool part about this new method of just making RNA parts for the vaccine is that it is easily customizable. This tech could be used to "print on demand" faster vaccines for new viruses or for Covid if it keeps mutating. It is really exciting stuff!

UPDATE: There have been some comments about the logistics of transportation and storage of the vaccine. I talked to the hubby this morning about it, and here is what he said.

The vaccine needs to be stored in a dewar which is a container that can handle liquid nitrogen. It keeps the vaccine at extremely low temperatures. This is important for an RNA vaccine because of the presence of RNase.

RNase is an enzyme that is EVERYWHERE. It is ubiquitous. It is impossible to manufacture a vaccine without some degree of RNase exposure. RNase's big claim to fame is that it degrades/erodes RNA.

RNase isn't inherently bad. We secrete it, bacteria secretes it, animals secrete it, etc. It serves several important functions, like a cellular defense against RNA viruses. It cleans up old RNA. It plays a role in the maturation of RNA molecules. It is usually very helpful.

However, that said, with an RNA vaccine, we actually DON'T want our RNase friends to break down the RNA Covid virus bits. So how do we do this? We keep the vaccine hella cold using liquid nitrogen. Enzymes like RNase can't "function" in such cold temperatures.

Liquid nitrogen is cheap and "easy" to make. Nitrogen makes up roughly 78% of our atmosphere. In the words of the hubby, "All you have to do is apply some energy to it and BAM! Liquid nitrogen." Logistically, the bigger problem is having enough dewar freezers.

The ideal would be to have this vaccine shipped and stored at every doctor's office and clinic out there so you could just pop in and get it. However, very few doctors have big dewars to store enough vaccine for all their patients.

We would instead have to have central locations set up in each city/county to administer the vaccine. Annoying, yes, but doable. Another option is to have mobile clinics that have a dewar unit in them that could move around to visit rural locations, schools, etc.

This is one of the reasons why it is so important to have a pro-science administration because these kinds of plans (nationwide vaccine distribution) are federal-level. Biden's announcement of his Covid committee full of qualified peeps (MDs and PhDs) was exciting.

The good news is that many doctors & researchers have been milling over this problem of a nationwide vaccine distribution for a long time. We have the brain power. We needed the federal gov to start setting up distribution plans back in Jan when C19 was new.

Now that we have a pro-science president, we can finally get these plans in motion. The denial & inactivity of Trump et al. early on set us back. However, now that we know what kind of vaccine may work (which we didn't before), we can act with laser precision when Biden steps in.

So no, we aren't out of the woods yet. We have to see what happens at the end of the vaccine trial. We have to get a nationwide system of distribution in place. We have to figure out the logistics of storing the stuff.

But we can figure all these things out, & we can get started on it now so if the vaccine does prove to be the one, we'll be ready to go. We have the expertise. Like I said, a lot of smart people have been preparing for this moment. They just need the funding & green light to go.

The hard part was getting a vaccine, & if this Pfizer one is as good as it is looking right now, the hard part is behind us. Science takes time. Manufacturing takes time. Distribution takes time. I know waiting is hard, but in the world of vaccines, this has gone incredibly fast.

Hang in there, everyone! We will get there! Have faith!