December 15, 2020
Background: The COVID-19 Pfizer BNT162b2 vaccine, let’s just call it the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine (so I don’t have to keep writing BNT162b2) is a novel mRNA vaccine developed to give immunity against the SARS CoV2 virus. It is synthesized mRNA packaged in small lipid nanoparticles but must be stored at extremely low temperatures (-70 C and 2 - 8 C for 5 days ) to prevent degradation. The mRNA encodes for a small portion of the SARS CoV2 virus known as the spike protein and does not encode for the entire virus itself.
This small lipid nanoparticle is injected into your body and then enters the cell. The lipid nanoparticles serve to protect and preserve the mRNA from degradation and allows it to enter cells readily. After the mRNA enters the cells, the ribosomes will then take the mRNA and begin to synthesize this information to produce the spike protein portion of the SARS CoV-2 virus. The spike protein is what is believed to help the SARS CoV-2 virus enter human cell, replicate, and then lead to the syndrome known as COVID-19. This spike protein is believed to be the immunogenic portion of the virus that the body will then recognize as foreign and begin to develop an immune response against. The vaccine is given in 2 doses that are to be administered 3 weeks apart.
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Medical Categories:
Infectious Disease