How mRNA Vaccines Work
mRNA vaccines have to potential to end the COVID19 pandemic. How do they work? Are they safe? And how could they've been developed so quickly?
The main idea of mRNA vaccines is to trick our bodies to produce part of a virus. This kickstarts our immune response, without getting us sick. All that's needed is a part of the virus's DNA or RNA, packaged into mRNA. Cool!
Follow-up: Questions & Answers
This video has sparked a lot of questions from viewers. I published a follow-up video with answers to the most commonly asked questions..
Sources
This video wouldn't be possible without the work of others. Here are the sources I've used during my research & script writing:
Chamary, J. (2020, April 17). Coronavirus Uses Spikes To Break Into Cells - Here’s How To Stop It. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jvchamary/2020/04/17/coronavirus-spike-protein/
Cuffari, B. (2020, June 12). What are Spike Proteins? https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-are-Spike-Proteins.aspx
Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. (2020, February 12). NIAID-RML. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Novel_Coronavirus_SARS-CoV-2.jpg
RNA vaccine. (n.d.). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNA_vaccine
Samadani, U. (1988). 346 Days: The Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine: The Molecular Biology Behind the Fastest Vaccine Development in History.
Sarda, M. (2020, December 17). The mRNA vaccines. https://twitter.com/WheatNOil/status/1339624815137722368
Susie Neilson , Andrew Dunn, & Bendix, A. (2020, December 19). Moderna’s groundbreaking coronavirus vaccine was designed in just 2 days. https://www.businessinsider.com/moderna-designed-coronavirus-vaccine-in-2-days-2020-11?r=US&IR=T
Thaker, R. (2020, July 20). Coronavirus: B cells and T cells explained. https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-b-cells-and-t-cells-explained-141888