Greetings friends!
For the first time since starting my blog, I'm not really sure where to begin with this post.
This is one of those topics that either people don't care about at all, or they get extremely fired up about - there's rarely a middle ground. Either way, most people tend to fall one side of the argument or the other: you should be vaccinated or you should not.
This post is not going to be about either of those things.
Most of you will know that my personal opinion is that everyone should want to be vaccinated, and that it is the most responsible thing to do (in any situation, not just in a pandemic). However, I equally believe that the choice should be left with the individual.
Despite my own opinions, this post will not be about telling you to get your jabs.
It is simply about telling the truth.
Why did I feel compelled to write this post?
I've watched a good portion of the government and various mainstream media announcements in the last ten months, and I am constantly amazed that they believe the appropriate way to explain the pandemic to the general public is to use scientific terms and graphs that I myself have only learned in the last two years at university... studying a medical sciences degree.
One part of my degree is learning to write scientific papers and a big part of that is something called a lay abstract. If you don't know, a lay abstract is often written alongside the scientific paper, and gives an overview of the information in the paper in lay terms. In other words, it's science written in non-science words.
The point of writing a lay abstract is so that the information is accessible and can be easily understood by someone who is not familiar with the science. You'd think during a pandemic, this logic would be used to make it easy for the general public to have the information that scientists have, but without the need for a degree. Instead, we have been bombarded with statistics, graphs and scientific phrases that only seem to cause further confusion.
So what do we do?
We turn to look at social media. Frankly, I've seen more conspiracy theories, baseless statements and completely fabricated science in the last year on facebook than I've seen anywhere else in my life. And that, to me, is terrifying.
In part, I blame the scientists, the government and the mainstream media themselves. Maybe if they had made more of an effort to bring the general public into the loop, and not treated them as children who "just wouldn't understand the complexity", there would be fewer people speculating and vulnerable to misinformation.
So whilst this post can't rewrite the mistakes of those bodies, I do hope that it can explain a few things and answer a few questions you might have. Especially now we are rolling out a vaccine that half the population of the world's most developed nations have said they would refuse if offered.
Explaining the human immune system
In essence the immune system is the collection of organs and cells in your body that fight off anything foreign. In fact, the immune system starts with your skin - the first line of defence. Your skin is a barrier between your internal organs and all of the nasty things in the world that could harm you.
But as we all know, sometimes those germs get in and we become unwell... but we also frequently recover from illness too (thankfully). Once a virus or some other germ enters your body, it gets right to work causing havoc, but so too do your cells - the second line of defence. Your cells will fight off the foreign body and that is what makes you feel unwell.
The immune system is even more clever than that, though. It spends a lot of time creating something called antibodies. This is like your body's army. Once the antibodies have worked with your blood cells to defeat the germs you are infected with, they don't ever want to fight that specific germ again. So your body will create "memory cells". Memory cells are exactly what they say on the tin - they remember. This means that if you are infected with the exact same germ again, your body will immediately recognise it as an old foe and start pumping out the antibodies it once created from scratch. This usually means that the germs will not take over your body as they did before, and you will not become unwell again.
I know what you're thinking.
"Well I get a cold every year. Surely my body would remember that?"
Unfortunately, the body has its limits and viruses like the common cold are clever. To survive they mutate so that when they enter your body, the antibodies that were once created to defeat that virus no longer match up to the new and improved cold virus. This means that the process of creating antibodies and fighting off the illness begins all over again and you are left feeling grotty.
This isn't the case with all viruses.
Did you ever have the chicken pox as a child?
The chicken pox is a caused by a virus that has not produced a common mutation. This means that once you have had the chicken pox, it is very unlikely you will ever catch it again. In fact, when I was little, parents of infants would hold something called "chicken pox parties". The hope was that children who attended the party would be exposed to the virus and catch the chicken pox. This sounds cruel, I know. However, it was seen as a kindness, as children are very resilient and their immune systems would be strengthened if they were to become exposed to the virus. Not only that, but the chicken pox virus often causes much worse illness is adolescents and adults than it does in infants, and once an infant had fought off the chicken pox virus, they were almost guaranteed not to become unwell with it as an adult.
What is a vaccine?
A vaccine is a substance that stimulates the immune system. In other words, it mimics the infection of a virus and causes your immune system to launch an attack that will produce the same antibodies as it would if you were naturally infected with that virus.
As I explained above, once your body has gone through the trouble of creating those antibodies, it likes to create a shortcut in case it comes into contact with that virus again. The body is very clever (and kinda lazy) so it produces cells specifically designed to remember that exact virus - it has a vendetta. So even though you never got sick, your body knows that virus exists now, and it will defend you from it should you ever become exposed.
A good example of this is the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination that many of us will have been offered as infants. The MMR vaccine is impressive as it doesn't just protect you from one virus, but it protects you from three!
You might be thinking at this point: "okay, so I could get a vaccine to protect me from those viruses but I already have a working immune system that could fight them off on its own, so why bother?"
This is a valid question. However, I feel obligated to remind you that whilst you are healthy, there are many people in this world who are not. Most of us will know someone who has battled, or is currently battling a disease like cancer. Cancer treatments, whilst a miracle of modern medicine, often completely knock out a person's immune system. This means that the second line of defence I was talking about before? That cancer patient doesn't have one anymore. So something as simple as the common cold could completely overwhelm their bodies.
The common cold is not considered a deadly virus. But measles? That is. I don't mean to say that every person who catches the measles virus will die of it, but there are many people out there who could.
What does that have to do with you and your immune system?
Well, the fact is that the more people who are immune to measles (i.e. through administration of the vaccine) the less likely it is that the virus will spread to those vulnerable people in society. I understand that you are healthy and that it isn't necessary for your continued survival that you have the MMR vaccine. But for someone else, you having the vaccine could be the difference between life and death.
Different types of vaccines
There are a few different types of vaccine and I think it's important that I tell you about them. However, I will add a section to this blog post that talks specifically about the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines below in case you are interested in only these vaccines!
Live attenuated:
This is the one that tends to freak people out a little, so I'm starting with the big guns.
A live attenuated vaccine is one that contains a weakened virus particle itself. This means that the virus is intact, but it is no longer able to cause you to become unwell. It is essentially a virus on some really strong sleeping pills. When the virus is injected into your body, your immune system immediately recognises that it is being invaded and launches a full scale attack. Remember when I said the body is clever? Well, it is clever but not clever enough to determine that the virus injected cannot actually cause you any harm. So it acts quickly and efficiently, creating antibodies that will destroy the virus and then it remembers. The downside to these vaccines is that people with weakened immune systems aren't always able to fight off the weakened virus. Since both the virus and the immune system are weakened, they are on a level playing field. This is where it is important for those people who have strong and healthy immune systems to get their shots to protect those who cannot.
Inactivated:
This vaccine uses a completely dead version of the virus. The up side to this is that there is no risk of you becoming unwell because the virus is not even alive when the vaccine is administered. The downside is, the body sometimes can recognise this and therefore it doesn't feel it should work as hard to get rid of the virus. This means that the immunity you build from this particular vaccine isn't as strong as the immunity you would gain from a live vaccine, so you might need to get booster shots in future.
Subunit:
These vaccines are arguably even safer than using a dead virus, as this type of vaccine doesn't even use an entire virus particle. This vaccine takes a part of the virus that is considered important for causing the illness and injects those specific parts. As a result, the body creates a strong immune response against those particles, so that if it were to be exposed to the virus itself, it would automatically attack those parts of that virus that it needs to survive and thrive. For instance, there might be a protein on the outside of the virus that is necessary for its survival. If your body immediately attacks that part of the virus, it will die before it has a chance to infect you. A great thing about this type of vaccine is that it can be administered to everyone, regardless of how strong their immune system is.
Toxoid:
Probably the rarest form of vaccine is the toxoid vaccine. A toxin is a harmful product that a germ creates to do its dirty work. Essentially, the toxin is what makes you unwell, instead of the germ itself. Similar to the inactivated vaccines, you often require a booster shot.
How do the COVID-19 vaccines work?
For the purposes of keeping this simple and understandable I am going to group the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines together, however you should be aware before you read on that there are some subtle differences. In this section I will be specifically referring to the Pfizer vaccine.
All three of these vaccines use genetic material. As I'm sure you are aware, our own genetic code (namely, DNA) is what makes you, you and me, me. This holds true for viruses too. Each virus has its own genetic code, its own DNA.
A clever thing about DNA is that it is in a very specific sequence that can be read. As science advanced, we created machines and software that would allow us to read the genetic code of just about anything with a genetic code. This is a new and exciting technology that we didn't have access to just a few short years ago.
By reading the genetic code of COVID-19, scientists were able to isolate a section of the code that is responsible for the production of a protein that is present on the outside of the virus particle. They were able to recreate this code in something called mRNA. The "m" in mRNA actually stands for messenger, so you can probably guess already what this is going to do.
The synthetic mRNA is what the Pfizer vaccine contains. When the vaccine is injected, the mRNA (containing the message of how to create the protein on the outside of the COVID-19 virus) enters your cells. It does not cause them harm, but your cells read the message from the mRNA and begin to produce the protein. Once your cells are churning out this foreign protein, an alarm sounds in your immune system and suddenly it starts to attack the protein as it would any germ. The immune response follows as normal until the cells have used up the synthetic mRNA, and the proteins they have created have been destroyed by your immune system. As normal, memory cells are formed so that when you come into contact with the protein again, your immune system can use the same antibodies as it just created. So if you were to be exposed to COVID-19, whilst your body won't recognise the virus itself, it will immediately be notified that the same protein is trying to invade again and it will amount a full-scale attack on the protein, which will kill the invading coronavirus.
How do we know it's safe?
Side effects and adverse events, and what are your chances of experiencing them?
As someone who has not yet received the COVID-19 vaccination (but is waiting with baited breath!!) I cannot speak from personal experience. However, I do know a couple of people who have received at least their first dose of the vaccine, and have experienced side effects such as a sore arm. I am aware of a couple of people who have experienced fevers or flu-like symptoms also, however this seems to be less common.
Of course, most of us will be aware that there have been reports of allergic reactions to the vaccine also. Whilst this is rare, it is important that it is reported so that those who are prone to allergic reactions can make an informed decision about whether they would still like to receive the vaccine. When the vaccine is administered, it will be done so in a controlled environment with trained medical professionals who know how to treat you, should an allergic reaction arise. Hence, you are required to wait 15 minutes after the vaccine has been administered to ensure that you are not reacting negatively to the dose. This is not to say that if you are prone to allergic reactions you will definitely have a reaction to this vaccine, however the precautions are in place just in case this does happen.
Adverse reactions are those which cause serious harm to a person. For instance, a heart attack, seizure and very occasionally death. Adverse reactions can happen, and we don't know why - they are seemingly random. I understand that this is an extremely scary thought, and can put you off getting vaccinated. However, I want to put this into perspective. The risk of an adverse reaction is so low that you have more chance of walking out into the street and being struck by lightening. Yes, it can happen and it does happen to some very unfortunate people, but it is so rare that I bet the thought has never even crossed your mind. If you're not concerned about being struck by lightening, then you don't need to worry about having a serious adverse reaction to the vaccine.
Debunking myths and answering your questions
1 Will a COVID-19 vaccination cause infertility?
There is absolutely no reason to believe that this is the case. The thing about science is that we've been burned in the past by speaking too soon, so now we only speak from experience. Since we have not used this vaccination for long enough to definitively say "no, this vaccine will not cause infertility", you will not find it in writing. However, this vaccination does not contain any components that would knowingly cause infertility, just as the other vaccinations you have probably had throughout your lifetime do not contain any components that cause infertility. This is an example of dangerous misinformation that has circulated on social media.
2. Is it safe to be vaccinated if you are pregnant or trying to conceive?
I have had multiple people ask me to address this question as they have seen that the vaccine is "not currently recommended" if you are pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant in the near future. Through my research for this blog post, and from what I have read throughout the clinical trials of each of the vaccines, there is nothing to suggest that this vaccine is unsafe for pregnant women. As far as I could tell, it is not so much that the vaccination is NOT recommended for this demographic, it is simply that there is not enough data to support a solid conclusion. What this means is, when the clinical trials were happening, they were not testing on pregnant women - which you would expect in any trial. The fact is, when you are pregnant, the majority of people do everything their power to protect their unborn child, and therefore signing up to a clinical trial is not part of that plan. This statement (i.e. not having enough data to support the conclusion that the vaccine is safe for pregnant women) is not out of the ordinary. In fact, the vast majority of vaccines (or medicines in general) will not be explicitly recommended to pregnant women when they first become available, since running clinical trials on pregnant women is not only unethical but would also be extremely difficult due to a lack of volunteers. Simply put, the data will not be there to support the conclusion that it is safe until pregnant women get the vaccine. Speaking freely, if I were in that situation I believe I would get the vaccine simply because as a pregnant woman I would be more at risk of severe illness if I were to contract COVID-19. However, it is your choice and nobody else's and you should consult your healthcare provider if you have concerns or would like to know more information, or to discuss your personal circumstances.
3. I've heard that the side effects are horrible.
Side effects occur because even though you have not been infected with the virus itself, it still takes an enormous effort for the body to fight off what it believes to be an invasion. This can leave you feeling pretty rubbish for a few days. In my opinion, feeling terrible for a few days after having the vaccine is better than feeling terrible with the actual COVID-19 virus itself. As I keep reiterating, it is your decision, but I can quite confidently say that you are better off suffering side effects than you are suffering severe illness due to exposure to the virus.
4. If the virus mutates will we need another vaccine?
This is an excellent question and frankly one I am very excited to answer. Here's the thing about mRNA/DNA vaccines - they're really stinkin' clever. Let's take just one as an example - the Pfizer vaccine (since it was first to be approved). As I explained above, the Pfizer vaccine uses mRNA to programme your own cells to produce a protein that is found on the surface of the COVID-19 virus. The beauty of this is that this particular protein is required for the survival (and ability to infect) of the virus itself, Therefore, any mutation would require that the targeted protein remain intact - otherwise the virus would die and what would be the point of a mutation that killed the virus? This means that in all likelihood, if the virus mutates, the vaccine would still be effective against the mutated strain, as the protein on the surface will be unchanged. I know I'm a science nerd but you have to admit, that's pretty cool!
5. There will be a tracker in the vaccine
Listen, if you have a smartphone, if you are on social media, or even if you're just reading this post from google right now... you don't need to worry about if there's a tracker in the vaccine because if the government or Bill Gates or whoever wanted to track or locate you, they could.
6. Why do I need two doses of the vaccine?
This is simply to ensure that your immune response is strong enough that if you were to come into contact with the COVID-19 virus your body would easily be able to fight it off. It typically takes about a week or two for the immune system to mount a significant response to the invading germ, destroy it and begin to create memory cells. The second dose of the vaccine should not be administered before this, hence the 3-4 week gap between doses - with a little extra wiggle room just in case your immune system was on a go-slow that week. However, the second dose could feasibly be administered later than the recommended time frame, as your immune system will retain the memory from the first dose. The immunity you gain from the first dose, whilst not completely effective against the virus itself, will not disappear overnight, or indeed if you do not receive the second dose within a month of the first.
7. Why do I need to continue wearing a mask after I am vaccinated?
The vaccine will protect you from becoming unwell, but it will not protect you from being exposed. As I have explained in this post, a vaccine's job is to trick the immune system into thinking you are being invaded by that virus, to cause the body to mount an immune response. Then your body remembers that attack in case of future exposure to the virus. What that means is that you are still able to carry the virus, and therefore are capable of passing it on to someone who hasn't yet received their vaccine. This will be the case until the majority of the population has been vaccinated, and we develop something called herd immunity. Herd immunity occurs when the majority of people are immune to the virus, and it is prevented from spreading.
8. How was the vaccine created so quickly?
This was also a concern for me before I researched the COVID-19 vaccines on the market, so I thought it was important to address this. There are two main reasons why this vaccine was created in record speed. The first is simply that we had the world's leading scientists working on the vaccine across the globe, around the clock. Usually it takes a long time to get FDA approval (or equivalent) in order to trial a vaccine/medicine and get it on the market. Since this was a time-sensitive project, these were no longer obstacles and were essentially "pushed to the front of the queue". The second reason is to do with the type of vaccine this is. As I said earlier, these are extremely clever vaccines that were not possible just a few short years ago, because we simply did not have the technology. Nowadays, we have technology that can read the genetic code of a virus with the click of a button, and we can then created the synthetic mRNA using that genetic sequence. This is a very robust and safe method of vaccination which makes the production even faster!
9. Will the COVID-19 vaccine alter my own DNA?
The simple answer is no, this is not possible. The mRNA within the vaccine will enter your cells, but will never enter into the nucleus - which is where your cells store your own DNA. Therefore, it will never be able to integrate itself into your genetic code.
If you've read this far, thank you for sticking with me through what I know is quite a hefty read!
I would like to end this post by reiterating that getting vaccinated is your decision, and it comes down to personal circumstances, beliefs and priorities. I may provide information and give my opinion, but I would never proceed to tell you what you should do.
Please if you have any questions at all about anything in this post, reach out to me! You can DM me on any of my social media pages (these are all linked on my website) or you can send a message to this website directly. I am more than happy to discuss any of these points in further detail, or explain anything you're unsure of.
Lastly I would just like to say, I know there is a lot of misinformation out there so please don't believe everything you read. Some things are obviously conspiracy theories or untrue but it's the more subtle fictions that worry me most - the things that seem like they could very much be true.
I guess mostly what I'd like you to take away from this post (besides the obvious understanding of vaccinations) is that in general, scientists are not villains. We aren't all sat around our desks in our weekly meetings discussing how we can inject you with tracking devices and things that will make you unwell. We're normal people who are dedicating our lives to making advances in medicine that will improve quality of life. Somewhere along the way during this pandemic, scientists became part of a narrative on social media where they're working with billionaires and governments to make you into slaves or keep you locked up or something. I truly believe they are just trying to keep you safe. And let me tell you a secret, every time you share a conspiracy theory, or a joke about a vaccine, a little piece of the scientists, the doctors, the frontline workers, the people who have lost loved ones to this virus dies inside.
So today, why don't you share this post instead?
Stay safe friends,
Charlotte. X
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