The last year was definitely a shocker to
the world since the appearance of the corona virus pandemic. After
intensive research; scientists were able to develop a vaccine that
prevents from getting the covid virus. However, the different types
of vaccines made confusion amongst people on which is better to use!
And whether it is safe or not? One fact for sure is that This vaccine
works like any other ordinary vaccine except for one thing
that we’re going to discuss along the article. So here are the top 5
things you should know about the CORONA VIRUS VACCINES
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| Process of vaccination |
1- How Does The Vaccine Works?
Vaccines normally contain weakened
or inactive substants of a particular antigen that triggers an immune response
within the body. This inactive version will not cause that disease in the
person receiving the vaccine. However, it will boost their immune system to
respond as if it would have on its first reaction to the actual germ.
Some vaccines require several doses, given
weeks or months apart which is sometimes needed to permit the production of
long-lived antibodies and development of memory cells. Hence, the body is
trained to fight the specific “disease-causing” organism, building up a
specific memory of the pathogen to rapidly fight it if and when exposed in the
future.
As far as the covid-19 pandemic is
concerned, its contagious nature makes it impossible for people to proceed
their regular daily lifestyles without getting infected; therefore, getting
vaccinated is the only solution to at least reduce the danger of infection.
2- The difference Between The Various Types of Covid-19 Vaccines
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| Covid19 |
Various types
of COVID-19 vaccines have been developed after in-depth researches done by more
than 6000 scientists all over the globe; and are still in the progress of
developing other versions for possible alterations of the various. Now, here
are the most common types of vaccines and their functions:
• Protein-based
vaccines: use harmless fragments of proteins or protein shells that mimic the
COVID-19 virus to generate an immune response safely.
• Inactivated virus
vaccines: use a form of the virus that has been inactivated so it does not
cause the disease, but still develop an immune response.
• Viral vector vaccines: which use a
harmless virus as a vassel that holds the coronavirus proteins to safely
generate an immune response.
• Nucleic acid (mRNA)
vaccines: take genetically engineered RNA to generate a protein that itself
safely stimulates an immune response. It uses a molecule as its base, a
molecular cousin of DNA, mRNA has instructions to build specific proteins i.e, the
structure that sticks off the virus's surface and used to infect human cells.
Once it gets
inside the body, the vaccine work is to instructs human cells to build this
protein so the immune system learns to recognize and attack it.
3- The Most Used Covid-19 Vaccines
1. Pfizer vaccine
This vaccine was
developed by Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech. Their statistics
show 95% effectiveness at preventing COVID-19; The vaccine is given in two
doses three weeks apart).
On December 11, 2020,
the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine became the first COVID-19 vaccine to be authorized
for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Several countries
have already authorized the vaccine for emergency use also, including
Argentina, the U.K., Chile and Singapore. the European Union followed the
latter on Dec. 21. According to The New York Times reports: Bahrain, Canada,
Saudi Arabia and Switzerland have completely approved and signed up for the
vaccine. However, The Associated Press reported that Australia gave the
vaccine "provisional approval" for use to whom aged 16 and
over on Jan. 25 The Associated Press reported.
Pfizer announced later
on March 31 that the vaccine was 100% effective among children ages 12 to
15 in preventing COVID-19 as far as the late-stage clinical trial is concerned.
2. Sinopharm vaccine
China National
Pharmaceutical Group/ Sinopharm collaborated with the Beijing Institute of
Biological Products to develop a vaccine that prevents virus transmission.
Using an inactivated coronavirus, which is a redesigned version of SARS-CoV-2
(the cause of severe acute respiratory distress syndrome) that cannot
replicate. Sinopharm announced in late December that the vaccine, called
BBIBP-CorV, is more than 79 percent effective, based on preliminary data from
late-stage clinical trials; however, the company has not published the data.
According to Live
Science, China granted Sinopharm permission to vaccinate construction workers,
diplomats, and students with one of its two COVID-19 vaccine candidates,
including BBIBP-CorV, in the summer of 2020. According to the company's
chairman, nearly 1 million people had received the vaccines by November.
In September, the UAE
authorized Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use, until December, the vaccine was
approved. According to the Times, China also approved the vaccine in December
in all its institutions, and Egypt authorized it for emergency use in January
2021. The vaccine is administered in two doses separated in three weeks.
RMH (the Russian
Ministry of Health) announced that Gamaleya Research Institute created a
coronavirus vaccine called Sputnik V, named after the World’s first artificial
satellite launched. The latter contains two genetically modified common cold
viruses that also has genes code for the spike protein of coronavirus.
3. SPUTNIK
According to data
gathered from early clinical trials Russia stated in November that the vaccine
is more than 91.4% effective in hindering COVID-19. On Feb. 2, the Lancet
reported the efficiency of the vaccine with 91.6% from data based on a
late-stage trial.
In November 2020, a mass
vaccination campaign was conducted by the Russian government offering the
vaccine to all of the citizens. However, there were some sayings about Russia
approving the vaccine in August for limited use without sufficient data from
human trials.
the Times reported that
Argentina, Belarus and Serbia have also approved the vaccine for emergency use
late in November as well.
4. AstraZeneca Vaccine
AstraZeneca (The Oxford
University and pharmaceutical company) came up with what is said to be about
70% effective at inhibiting COVID-19. According to the clinical trials,
adjusting the dose appeared to boost its efficacy.
Allegedly, this vaccine
is about 62% effective. Two full-size doses are given, the second dose come
after 28 days from the first. However, the primer analysis showed that in
people given a half-dose followed by a full dose (which is done unknowingly by
the participants) the vaccine was surprisingly 90% effective. However,
scientists, or at least some of them, have questioned those results and whether
they are representative.
During the late
December, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was authorized by the U.K along with
Argentina for emergency use followed by Mexico and India in January. according
to the Times, The EU's “European Medicines Agency” permitted the vaccine for
adults on Jan. 29.
For the surprising
part!! numerous countries paused temporarily their use of the vaccine when
reporting of blood clots with abnormal bleeding among particular vaccinated
people. Live Science reported that the EU's European Medicines Agency
terminated that the vaccine does not increase the general incidence of blood
clots; however, there is no direct link to several rare clotting disorders.
The committee
immediately started a thorough investigation into these rare clotting incidents
and found that they are indeed related to the vaccine. The reason why and how
it triggers the clotting remains unknown. Blood clots with low platelet counts
must be listed as possible side effects of the vaccine, because these effects
can appear in approximately "one in 100,000" vaccinated people; even
though the accurate rate at which vaccinated people form the clots is still
unknown.
4- Covid-19 Vaccine and Chronic Illnesses
COVID-19 vaccines are
administered to patients with underlying medical conditions as long as they do
not show severe or instant allergic reaction to any of the substances in the
vaccine. As far as the limited vaccines supplies are concerned, the vaccination
is at best recommended as a priority for those with chronic diseases such as:
chronic respiratory disease, chronic cardiovascular disease, obesity and
diabetes, all have been listed as highly at the risk of severe and
complicated COVID-19 illness that would lead to
hospitalization.
5- Covid-19 Pregnancy and Children!!
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| Children's vaccination |
Pregnant women are also
at higher risk of getting severe COVID-19 condition compared
to women who are not pregnant. It has been shown through statistics that COVID-19 has been
associated with an increasing risk namely preterm birth and possible
malfunction in fetus’s organs.
WHO recommends the
avoidance of COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy, unless if
there is a possible benefit of vaccinating a pregnant woman that outweighs the
probable vaccine risks, like those health employees that are at high risk of
exposure and along with pregnant women having comorbidities placing them in a
high-risk category for severe COVID-19.
As far as children are concerned the initial doses of the vaccines
are sent to countries for those who are health workers and people with higher
risk of severe illness caused by the virus, for instance the elderly and
those with chronical conditions, and are most unlikely to be given to children.
The selection of these populations have been very spicific to help diminish
morbidity from COVID-19 and to help protect health
establishments that serve everyone. it should be taken into acount keeping up
with the updates related with this matter because it's still under study.
Important summary
Getting the vaccine or
not become the debate of the year! Since its release, people are still
wondering what if it’s not effective, what if it’s all a scam, what if I could
have the rare side effects, which one is better to use! Even though the
statistics were shown and studies were proven, there's still vague conception to
people about the COVID-19 vaccine.
To do it or not is
really up to the person and his/her health condition and just hoping for the
best to happen, because people’s bodies differ and their mechanisms also differ.
The only way to know whether to have the vaccine (any one of the list above) or not
is by running some blood tests and see if your body is ready to receive it. We
are not advocates for any part; however, we encourage global health
awareness.
Don't hesitate to share
with us your experience with the COVID-19 Vaccine; wether you took it or not to
help everyone clear the vision concerning this controversial issue!
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