Let's start with my feelings. I personally feel like the vaccine is unsafe. I feel like they didn't do enough testing on diverse populations. Diverse populations being people with different ages, underlying conditions, different races. I feel like they're using America and their doctors as a testing ground which I'm not mad at. I think white people should be a testing ground because it's been done to African Americans for so long. However I do think the vaccine needs to be tested on African Americans as well. But it is difficult for the African-American population trust doctors. After the Tuskegee experiments (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/news/the-infamous-40-year-tuskegee-study). I don't know how you convinced black people to trust doctors after something that happens. I feel like African Americans have been used as medical tests subjects for years. I feel like that had lead to irreparable damage not only mentally but to the people and their families physically. So I understand the African American communities and other communities of color distrust when it comes to the when it comes to the covid 19 vaccine. I being part of the African-American community have similar feelings of distrust. These feelings are not assuaged by all the misinformation going around. Earlier political events that made it much more difficult to trust the government and the CDC also are not helping.
I feel like other vaccines took at least 5 years or more to produce. I have heard the argument that it was a lack of funding and pressure that made it takes so long for those vaccines to be produced. I disagree with those arguments on the basis that science no matter how much funding or pressure takes time. You have to run the same experiment multiple times by just the person developing. Then it has to be challenged by the scientific community by then running the experiments and examining the data multiple times. I feel like clinical trials take weeks. You have to recruit participants. I think at least that takes the 2 weeks. You have to go through all of the medical records and make sure that their ideal candidates. I feel like that takes another two week. You have to give some of the placeb and some of the actual vaccine. then I feel like you're supposed to expose them to covid 19 and hope they don't die. That's going to take at least 2 months I think. I mean the ones who got the placebo might die. Though I think that that is not how that works for human medical test. I think that they only do that to animals. Animals are so drastically different than humans many scientists will tell you testing things on rats and mice is damn near useless (https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/04/10/522775456/drugs-that-work-in-mice-often-fail-when-tried-in-people).
So I feel like I need actual science to convince me. Let's begin with how the vaccine works. The vaccine works with messenger RNA. The Corona virus has spikes on its surface called the S protein. The vaccine teaches your body how to build the S protein. Your immune system then is suppose recognizes that this protein doesn't belong there and attacks. To attack and destroy the protein the body is going to have to create antibodies. Once it has these antibodies when it comes in contact with the real covid-19 virus it ideally well then recognize the S protein spikes and know how to destroy the entire virus 1( https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-vaccine/art-20484859) 2 ( https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccine-what-you-need-to-know)
I am not a doctor. I'm not a biomedical engineer. I did not study biology. I did not study medicine. Not a professional in this field at all. But I feel like the way that most vaccines work is they introduce a inactive virus into your body. This is not the case. In America there are only six license vaccines that use inactive viruses to teacher body how to build up antibodies to the virus (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7189890/#:~:text=Today%2C%20there%20are%20six%20licensed,(TBEV)%20to%20generate%20vaccines.). (https://www.vaccines.gov/basics/types)(https://www.immune.org.nz/vaccines/vaccine-development/types-vaccines) I couldn't find a non-governmental source to back this up for the US so I found one for a different government. That's why you got three different sources for this one. Most vaccines modern vaccines do use a protein in the vaccine to teach your body to build antibodies and make it more effective against fighting the virus. As you read in the sources above.
However a vaccine is only good if it's made with the right protein from the virus. That brings into question how does the covid-19 virus actually work? "Researchers with the University of California, San Francisco found that when the SARS-CoV-2 virus infects a human cells, the infected cell grows multi-pronged tentacles that are studded with viral particles. These filaments, called filopodia, reach out to still-healthy neighboring cells, which then bore into the cells’ bodies and infect the healthy cells with virus." (https://www.biospace.com/article/research-roundup-how-the-covid-19-virus-infects-other-cells-and-more/)
So apparently the virus binds with ACE2 receptor on a cell. Covid 19 releaseses it's genetic material into the cell (https://www.scripps.edu/covid-19/science-simplified/how-the-novel-coronavirus-infects-a-cell/index.html). That genetic material changes the cell and makes it make the little spikes or tentacles. Which carry the virus RNA. Then it infects any cell that comes into contact with it because of the spikes and/or tentacles. So from my understanding it uses the spikes to infect and bind with cells but it seems only though ACE2 receptor. Why not stop it from being able to bind with the receptor. Maybe that's a harder job I'm not sure. However it seems like if it couldn't bind with the receptor then we'd all be fine. Curious... From what I read above it does seem like it uses the S protein to infect cells through this binding process. So maybe they choose the right protein.
Did the vaccine trials include a diverse population? No.
(https://www.statnews.com/2020/08/14/covid-19-clinical-trials-are-are-failing-to-enroll-diverse-populations-despite-awareness-efforts/#:~:text=It's%20been%20well%2Destablished,populations%20that%20actually%20reflect%20society.)(https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/08/27/large-us-covid-19-vaccine-trials-are-halfway-enrolled-lag-participant-diversity/)
This makes me question whether it will work on people of color and does not do anything to make me trust this vaccine. I think that when you do not do medical tests on diverse populations, you do a disservice to the medical community because you're not making a cure or something feasible for everyone. Without the empirical data on how it works on a diverse population it is not scientifically sound.
As I'm learning about the covid-19 virus and vaccine I'm growing slightly skeptical. I still have a few questions. I am still unsettled by the fact that they did not test the diverse population. Moving though. Many people have been saying they can't get the vaccine due to allergies. So what in the vaccine that people may have an allergic reaction to?
- mRNA
- the Pfiizer and Moderna vaccine differ because of the slight changes they made in the mNRA that they both manufactured in a lab noting using human cells
- The mRNA in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine codes for an area of the spike protein known as the receptor- binding domain (RBD)
- saline
- Phosphate buffer solution (PBS) (Pfiizer)
- Tromethamine (tris) (Moderna)
- Sodium acetate (Moderna)
- Sucrose (sugar)
- Water
- Lipid
- ALC-0315 (Pfiizer)
- ALC-0159 (Pfiizer)
- SM-102 (Moderna)
- PEG2000-DMG (Moderna)
- 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine
- Cholesterol
(https://www.goodrx.com/blog/ingredients-covid-19-vaccine/) (https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/12/09/1013538/what-are-the-ingredients-of-pfizers-covid-19-vaccine/)
(https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines/Pfizer-BioNTech.html)
If it's not labeled one of the other it's in both.
There is a warning that says if you have an allergy to any of the ingredients or to specific vaccine that you should not get this vaccine. I would check with your doctor who knows your allergies before getting the vaccine. If you're worried that you might be allergic to something in the vaccine you can also see an allergist to get an allergy test for the ingredients that are in the vaccine. But I feel like the ingredients in the vaccine are common in other medicines and so your doctor will probably be sufficient.
What are the side effects of the vaccine? Fatigue, headaches, chills muscle aches, and joint pains. (https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/covid-19-vaccine/news/20201217/covid-19-vaccine-faq-safety-side-effects-efficacy) (https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-vaccine/art-20484859).
It doesn't seem like there's a chance of death except for if you're allergic to the vaccine.
Is it worth getting? Does it work?!
95% effective in preventing mild to severe symptoms. The severe symptoms including death. But it doesn't seem like it prevents you from getting covid just prevents you from dying from covid 19 which is something. Not dying is good. I'd rather not get covid but if I have to get covid I'd rather not die from it. (https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccine-what-you-need-to-know) (https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210114-covid-19-how-effective-is-a-single-vaccine-dose)
But isn't there another mutated strain of covid-19? Yes! (https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/mediaroom/pressreleaselisting/new-sars-cov2-variant) (https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/a-new-strain-of-coronavirus-what-you-should-know)
This one it seems to be more contagious than the original. However it's not uncommon for viruses to mutate and change as they spread through the populace. Many major cities have their own unique strain of covid-19. University of Chicago says that Cook county Illinois has its own unique strain of covid-19. A virus is a living thing It's going to mutate and change so that it can survive. It's trying to spread we're trying to stop it.
Will the current vaccine work against this new strain? Yes? Maybe, We really don't know yet. (https://abc13.com/vaccine-trial-covid-19-mutation-pfizer-what-we-know/9474530/)(https://www.biospace.com/article/pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccine-increasing-production-and-confident-it-can-handle-mutant-strain/) (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/transmission/variant.html)
I was feeling confident in getting the vaccine until I found out that it might be useless against the new strains and the whole diverse population thing. If the old strains are not as prevalent in the new strains are, then we need something that's effective against the new strains which are worse more than we need something that's effective against the old strands in my opinion. But if the vaccine works against the new strains as well then I think it would be worth getting. Only time will tell and so I'm going to wait and stay in quarantine. By the time they figure out if the vaccine works on the new strains a diverse populous will have been vaccinated. Waiting deals with the diverse population issue as well. I want to wait until we have a vaccine that works against mutations of the strain similar to how we have vaccines that work against mutations of other viruses. I also want to wait to see how it affects people of different races ages and with underlying conditions. I hope this posts has helped you make a decision about the vaccine as well.
