About Vaccines and COVID-19

Image of coronavirus under a transmission electron microscope. Image courtesy of ProPublica via Getty Images [1].

With all the issues currently affecting our country, many seem to have either forgotten or decided to ignore the looming issue of coronavirus. However, coronavirus has not slowed down and has been projected to kill over 200,000 people in the United States by October[2]. In order to combat the coronavirus, scientists all over the globe are researching vaccines for the virus that will grant all of us immunity, but the process is long and difficult.

In order to understand why vaccines are so difficult to make, let’s first discuss what vaccines are and how they work. Vaccines are simply anything that can give you immunity towards a disease they try to prevent; they can range from the common injection to aerosol sprays[3]. By getting vaccines, people will generally become immune to that disease after their immune systems have learned how to combat the virus or bacteria. While this may sound simple in concept, there are many ways to create effective vaccines.

Image of different “ingredients” of vaccines. Image courtesy of Health Synonyms[3].

Vaccines can include live but weakened bacteria/viruses, inactivated bacteria/viruses, inactivated toxins, or segments of the bacteria/viruses. The strategy used depends on each disease as there are strengths and weaknesses specific to each method[4]. When it comes to the coronavirus vaccine, scientists are looking to use the so-called “spike protein”, which is the part on the outside of the virus that binds to the human cell[1]. As with other vaccines that use this method of immunization, if the trained immune system encounters these spike proteins again then it can defend against the coronavirus. Since the coronavirus has not mutated in any significant way and still uses the same spike protein, scientists are optimistic about using this method to create a vaccine[1].

Image of Covid-19 vaccines being developed by Novavax. Image courtesy of Propublica via Getty Images[1].

Despite all the information we currently have on the coronavirus vaccine, no one can say for certain when a vaccine will be ready for the general public. The Trump administration aims to have a vaccine ready by January 2021; experts that are more optimistic believe in this timeline while those more cautious believe it may take until the summer of 2021[1]. As a comparison, vaccines usually take about 10 to 15 years to develop on average[1]. Even if the Covid-19 vaccine takes until next summer to complete, this would be the fastest vaccine to have been developed. In the end, regardless of how long this vaccine will take to finish we should all continue to practice social distancing and wear masks when going out for the foreseeable future in order to protect ourselves and others.

By Nathan Chan

Works Cited

[1] https://www.propublica.org/article/how-and-when-can-the-coronavirus-vaccine-become-a-reality

- Image of covid-19 and information about the prospective vaccines

[2] https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america

- Website once used by White House to predict number of coronavirus infections

[3] https://www.healthsynonyms.com/understand-the-essentials-of-immunity-before-getting-the-vaccine-shots/

- Website about general knowledge and history of vaccines

- Image of different ways that vaccines are produced

[4] https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/making-vaccines/how-are-vaccines-made

- Basic information about how vaccines are made and how they give immunity

[5] https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/vpd-vac-basics.html

- CDC website on vaccines for further information not covered in the news article