How the Oxford Vaccine Works

How the different vaccines are made and work in the body make for some interesting reading.

I especially like that of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine.

Coronaviruses have club-shaped spikes on their outer coats, which form a corona — Latin for crown — on the virus surface.

These spikes is what the Oxford vaccine targeted for a vaccine.

The Oxford vaccine contains the genetic sequence of this surface club-shaped spike protein. Genetic sequencing for the layman just means the order in which the ‘properties’ in your genes are present in your body. Genes carry the information that determines your traits. Why does a daughter look like her father? It’s the genes, the genetic code.

Now, when the vaccine enters cells inside the body, it uses this genetic code to produce the surface spike protein of the coronavirus. This induces an immune response, getting your immune system ready to attack the coronavirus if it later infects your body. In other words, it tricks the body to attack it so that it is able to attack coronavirus quickly if or when it comes.

It seems simple but it’s a lot of work. What I just described is supposed to take about a decade to figure out, but it took this team 10 months. It’s a miracle of science built on years of previous research.

Of particular attention to me is where the vaccine came from. The Chimpanzee is the key.

Oxford COVID-19 vaccine in the scientific community is more commonly referred to as the ChAdOx1 vaccine.

The ChAdOx1 vaccine is a chimpanzee adenovirus vaccine vector. This is a harmless, weakened adenovirus that usually causes the common cold in chimpanzees.

ChAdOx1 was chosen as the most suitable vaccine technology for a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine as it has been shown to generate a strong immune response from one dose in other vaccines.

It has been genetically changed so that it is impossible for it to grow in humans. This also makes it safer to give to children, the elderly and anyone with a pre-existing condition such as diabetes.

Unlike the other two vaccines available — Pfizer and Moderna — which must be kept at ultracold temperatures, the Oxford vaccine can be stored for months in standard refrigerators, greatly simplifying distribution.

It’s also much cheaper than the other two, more than five times cheaper than the available two, which makes it ideal for low-income countries. They have even agreed to make the vaccine on a not-for-profit basis for the duration of the pandemic.

Science keep me in awe.

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