The time is almost here. From the beginning of the pandemic, researchers and pharmaceutical industries have been working tirelessly to create an effective vaccine. Months later, there has finally been a breakthrough. On November 18, Pfizer and BioNTech announced the conclusion of Stage 3 trials of their COVID-19 vaccine. As they await FDA approval, Pfizer and BioNTech will continue to manufacture mass amounts of this vaccine to ensure it is available to the public as soon as possible.
This breakthrough has come a bit earlier than originally predicted. In an article for The New York Times, Stuart A. Thompson discussed the professional predictions for the vaccine timeline. His interactive graphic shows that a normal research pace would give us a vaccine by November of 2033. Obviously, companies have fast-tracked this process. Thompson predicted in April that a vaccine could possibly be available by August of 2021. This was the general prediction from experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci as well. Dr. Fauci now predicts the vaccine could be made available as early as April of 2021. This difference of a few months could be the difference in thousands of lives.
Let’s take a better look into the vaccine itself. In order to understand the COVID-19 vaccine, we must understand how other vaccines are created. Take your yearly flu shot. That flu shot contains dead virus cells from the strain of the virus they predict will be spread that particular year. These virus cells teach your immune system how to react to these certain types of cells without actually causing an infection. After your flu shot, your body produces the antibodies it needs to fight off this particular virus. This is the common blueprint for many vaccines.
However, the COVID-19 vaccine is being built a bit differently. Instead of injecting the body with the deactivated virus cells, experts are isolating the genetic instructions, known as RNA, for a particular protein from the virus. This protein, SARS-CoV-2 Spike RBD Protein, is being used in many of the vaccines being developed. This vaccine will work a little differently from your average flu vaccine. After receiving this vaccine, the body will begin making the SARS-CoV-2 Spike RBD Protein. Then, your immune cells will learn to make antibodies to these particular proteins. This form of vaccine can be alarming to some people because your body will be producing a COVID-19 protein. However, these virus proteins are not enough to infect your entire body with the virus. Instead, they allow your body to create its antibodies in case you are exposed to the actual virus.
A vaccine may be able to bring back a sense of normalcy in our day to day lives. In order to slow the rate of spread of a disease, the population must reach a certain level of immunity. In order for a virus to spread, a certain number of people must be able to catch the disease and consequently spread the virus. Herd immunity is when a large portion of the population is unable to catch and spread the disease. Herd immunity can be reached in two ways: infection and vaccination. The first option would result in many more lives being lost. This is why the race for a vaccine is so important. A vaccine would help accelerate the process of herd immunity without risking more lives. With a large portion of the population vaccinated, the rate of spread will slow drastically and may allow us to return to a new normal.
Many people, including Stevens alumna Pam Cheng, have been working tirelessly since March to develop an effective vaccine for COVID-19. Pam Cheng is the executive vice president of AstraZeneca, one of the many companies working to develop the COVID-19 vaccine. AstraZeneca’s goal is to have 3 billion doses of the potential vaccine ready for distribution as soon as it is FDA approved. In her special lecture series, Cheng explained how the COVID-19 vaccine has been produced so fast. She assures everyone that they are “following all the safety protocols… the part we are accelerating is the manufacturing.” Unlike many other vaccines that wait for trials to be complete and FDA approval before manufacturing, many companies including AstraZeneca are mass producing their vaccine while it is in clinical trials. This is a lesson that can be learned from our last pandemic, H1N1.
The year 2009 was the last time we raced for a vaccine at top speed. After the vaccine had been approved, there was an extreme shortage. There was not enough manufacturing of vaccines beforehand, causing a lot of Americans to have to wait to get this important vaccine. AstraZeneca and many other companies have learned from this past mistake. Cheng emphasized AstraZeneca’s mission that “this will not be a vaccine for the privileged, and this will not be a vaccine for the wealthy countries” but rather a vaccine that is available to everyone who needs it.
As we approach the end of a very hectic year, it seems that there is a promising future ahead. Pfizer has announced the end of their clinical trials with a vaccine that is 95% effective. Although the pandemic is far from over, this vaccine could be available in a matter of months. It is still undetermined how long immunity may last from this vaccine. But it is looking to be a promising contender for the first-ever coronavirus vaccine.
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