Saturday, November 13, 2021

How One Covid-19 Vaccine is Not Like Another...

What types of vaccines are there?

Based on a number of these factors, scientists decide which type of vaccine they will make. There are several types of vaccines, including: 
a) Inactivated vaccines
b) Live-attenuated vaccines
c) Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines
d) Subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines
e) Toxoid vaccines
f) Viral vector vaccines

 

 a) Inactivated vaccines

Inactivated vaccines use the killed version of the germ that causes a disease.

Inactivated vaccines usually don’t provide immunity (protection) that’s as strong as live vaccines. So you may need several doses over time (booster shots) in order to get ongoing immunity against diseases. 

Inactivated vaccines are used to protect against:
Hepatitis A
Flu (shot only)
Polio (shot only)
Rabies

 

 b) Live-attenuated vaccines

Live vaccines use a weakened (or attenuated) form of the germ that causes a disease.

Because these vaccines are so similar to the natural infection that they help prevent, they create a strong and long-lasting immune response. Just 1 or 2 doses of most live vaccines can give you a lifetime of protection against a germ and the disease it causes.

But live vaccines also have some limitations. For example:
Because they contain a small amount of the weakened live virus, some people should talk to their health care provider before receiving them, such as people with weakened immune systems, long-term health problems, or people who’ve had an organ transplant.
They need to be kept cool, so they don’t travel well. That means they can’t be used in countries with limited access to refrigerators.

Live vaccines are used to protect against:
Measles, mumps, rubella (MMR combined vaccine)
Rotavirus
Smallpox
Chickenpox
Yellow fever

 

c) Messenger RNA vaccines—also called mRNA vaccines

Researchers have been studying and working with mRNA vaccines for decades and this technology was used to make some of the COVID-19 vaccines. mRNA vaccines make proteins in order to trigger an immune response. mRNA vaccines have several benefits compared to other types of vaccines, including shorter manufacturing times and, because they do not contain a live virus, no risk of causing disease in the person getting vaccinated.

mRNA vaccines are used to protect against:
COVID-19

 

d) Subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines

Subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines use specific pieces of the germ—like its protein, sugar, or capsid (a casing around the germ).

Because these vaccines use only specific pieces of the germ, they give a very strong immune response that’s targeted to key parts of the germ. They can also be used on almost everyone who needs them, including people with weakened immune systems and long-term health problems.

One limitation of these vaccines is that you may need booster shots to get ongoing protection against diseases.

These vaccines are used to protect against:
Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b) disease
Hepatitis B
HPV (Human papillomavirus)
Whooping cough (part of the DTaP combined vaccine)
Pneumococcal disease
Meningococcal disease
Shingles

 

e) Toxoid vaccines

Toxoid vaccines use a toxin (harmful product) made by the germ that causes a disease. They create immunity to the parts of the germ that cause a disease instead of the germ itself. That means the immune response is targeted to the toxin instead of the whole germ.

Like some other types of vaccines, you may need booster shots to get ongoing protection against diseases.

Toxoid vaccines are used to protect against:
Diphtheria
Tetanus

 

f) Viral vector vaccines

For decades, scientists studied viral vector vaccines. Some vaccines recently used for Ebola outbreaks have used viral vector technology, and a number of studies have focused on viral vector vaccines against other infectious diseases such as Zika, flu, and HIV. Scientists used this technology to make COVID-19 vaccines as well.

Viral vector vaccines use a modified version of a different virus as a vector to deliver protection. Several different viruses have been used as vectors, including influenza, vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), measles virus, and adenovirus, which causes the common cold. Adenovirus is one of the viral vectors used in some COVID-19 vaccines being studied in clinical trials. Viral vector vaccines are used to protect against:
COVID-19

 

The future of vaccines

Did you know that scientists are still working to create new types of vaccines? Here are 2 exciting examples:
DNA vaccines are easy and inexpensive to make—and they produce strong, long-term immunity. 
Recombinant vector vaccines (platform-based vaccines) act like a natural infection, so they're especially good at teaching the immune system how to fight germs.

 

Current Covid-19 Vaccine Types:
The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are messenger RNA vaccines also called mRNA vaccines. mRNA vaccines are some of the first COVID-19 vaccines authorized and approved for use in the United States.

The Johnson & Johnson Janssen vaccine, a viral vector vaccine, is among the COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use in the United States.

 

New Covid-19 Vaccines with Stage III Trials Completed NOVAVAX:
NOVAVAX - NVX-CoV2373 is a subunit vaccine made from a stabilized form of the coronavirus spike protein using the company’s recombinant protein nanoparticle technology. The purified protein antigens in the vaccine cannot replicate or cause COVID-19. The vaccine also contains a proprietary adjuvant, MatrixM™. Adjuvants are additives that enhance desired immune system responses to vaccine. NVX-CoV2373 is administered by injection in liquid form and can be stored, handled and distributed at above-freezing temperatures (35° to 46°F.) A single vaccine dose contains 5 micrograms (mcg) of protein and 50 mcg of adjuvant. The vaccine is administered as two intramuscular injections 21 days apart. The technology used for this vaccine was developed under a long-standing contract with the Department of Defense.

Results from a Phase 3 clinical trial enrolling 15,000 adults in the United Kingdom showed a two-dose regimen of NVX-CoV2373 was highly effective(link is external) in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 overall and also demonstrated high efficacy against the Alpha variant strain of SARS-CoV-2. 

21 comments:

  1. In Belgium they now offer 'refreshers' in the form of a third jab. Despite thta, infection rates are up again. We're not done with this thing yet.

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  2. I'm sure Minus is very happy that the pandemic isn't over yet. Some (including Minus) want to keep it going (and killing) as long as possible. The more people die the better. Because it's going to be President Joe Biden's fault. Somehow.

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  3. All these bogus reports of "vaccines saving lives" handwave away the inherent fact that that the vaccines didn't stop anyone that was "saved" from getting COVID-19 in the first place.

    That's a math and statistics issue, which isn't the left's forte.

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  4. I think my third jab will be the Novavax, if I can find it. The mRNA vaccines don't have enough virus in them. :)

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  5. TC:

    If only I had a penny for every loon who refused the vaccine, then got seriously ill with Covid, I'd have a pretty penny.

    The left? Dear me, you still stuck in Manicheism: left v. right? Yaawwwnn...

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  6. Framer:

    Do I detect a certain softening in your stance on vaccines?

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  7. Gert,

    That's right. A single penny. You're not going to get rich waiting for left wing statistics to pass muster.

    Most of the unvaxxed don't even get "seriously ill" when they catch Covid-19. It's not the right running around claiming the vaccine "saved lives" - lives that very much more than likely weren't in danger in the first place.

    Everyone "saved" by the Covid-19 vaccine caught Covid after being vaccinated. That is what is being handwaved away. How else could you say it "saved" anyone, if those vaxxed didn't catch Covid and mostly didn't die from it, just like the unvaxxed that catch Covid and that mostly don't die from it?

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  8. I'm not softening to the new mRNA vaccines. I'm convinced that the only effective long-tern immunity must be conferred by a whole live virus... and that shorter term immunities reduce from there (dead virus, parts/pieces of virus) etc.

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  9. Beamish is right. Covid didn't make anyone fatally ill in Africa (a place without millions of people w/o co-morbidities on life support).

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  10. TC:

    Well, you can keep your left/right nonsense for the Meircan blogosphere where EVERYTHING is hyper polarised. Here in the reality based community Covid is not a partisan issue, thankfully.

    Farmer:

    Hotair? You sure it's not The Onion? LOL!

    So all these deaths in US/EU were all fabricated by the Left?

    The partner of one of my employees had to be coma induced because of Covid-19. He's now out of it with very severe medical problems: we don't know if he's going to make it.

    Carl Sagan: 'it's good to be open minded but not so much your mind falls out of your skull!'

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  12. Farmer:

    Of course your stance on vaccines has softened: not that long ago you proclaimed you wouldn't get vaccinated.

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  13. TC:

    All these bogus reports of "vaccines saving lives" handwave away the inherent fact that that the vaccines didn't stop anyone that was "saved" from getting COVID-19 in the first place.

    And your evidence for this is? Alex Jones?

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  14. The deaths were not fabricated by the Left. People actually died. Attributing those deaths to Covid ALONE was the Left's fabrication. Africa doesn't have hospitals filled with old, sick, and morbidly obese people like America and Europe do and so their death rates are only 1/10th that of 1st world nations. Those are the people who are dying, not from Covid per se, but from the complications and added strain on these vulnerable populations that Covid imposes.

    Otherwise healthy people under 65 have little to fear from Covid. Certainly no enough to justify the "mandates" the Left insists upon foisting upon them, and not enough to close a single k-12 school.

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  15. Gert,

    My evidence is the concrete, static meaning of words. People running around wearing water wings and life jackets aren't "saved" from drowning if the water barely submerges their toenails.

    Same with Covid-19 "vaccines." They have only "saved" people among the weak, those that to continue my analogy would drown in a wading pool standing upright. People "saved" by the "vaccinations" are still getting Covid-19, but perhaps are not getting as sick or going asymptomatic, just like the overwhelming majority of unvaccinated people that catch Covid-19.

    The Grand Old Duke of York is throwing 10,000 men at a smoldering matchstick.

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  16. TC and Farmer:

    As so often all the both of you (almost professional grumpy contrarians that you are) have is opinions, nothing peer reviewed or serious in any other way.

    I half expected some newletter or so, maybe Trumpian, proffered as 'evidenvce' but not even that much!

    2/10 for effort.

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  17. Well Gert, I certainly hope that you're "fully vaccinated" against Covid. Cuz if your not, try the Novavax jab next time. It should lessen the time interval between the jabs that a "fully vaccinated" person is going to need in future to keep their vaccine passport valid.

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