The first American healthcare workers have started receiving vaccinations against COVID-19, a major turning point in the U.S., which has recorded more infections and deaths than any other country in the world.
Naturally, we all have questions about these developments.
By far, the most common question is some form of this one: When can I get the vaccine?
We can’t give you an exact date, but the short answer is that vaccines could be available to the general public in the spring or summer.
Many of you wanted to know about vaccine safety and about the science behind the vaccine. There are sections below on those topics.
Timeline and logistics
What we know now is that healthcare workers are first in line to be vaccinated in California and other states.
An expert panel has advised the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that nursing home residents should be next in line, though each state will make its own decision.
Most area plans follow that recommendation, and then vaccinate essential workers and other high-risk groups. The exact details are still being worked out, though, and there is debate about who should be considered an essential worker.
Vaccine science
Scientists had a head start in creating vaccines during this pandemic, based on earlier advances made against the SARS and MERS coronaviruses, which are relatives of the virus that has upended 2020.
BNT162b2, as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is officially known, was developed in a matter of months thanks to a new method that uses a piece of the coronavirus’ genetic code rather than the virus itself.
The Moderna vaccine, which could receive emergency use authorization soon, works similarly.
Once the vaccine is injected into the body, the genetic payload- called messenger RNA, or mRNA- instructs cells to produce specific coronavirus proteins.
The immune system responds by creating antibodies that are primed to attack the real coronavirus, said Dr. Bruce Walker, an immunology and infectious diseases researcher at Harvard and MIT.
“The process lasts in the body for about 36 hours,” Walker said. “Then the vaccine is degraded and essentially gone.” But the crucial antibodies remain.
– Excerpts from LA Times