Covid Vaccines

[SansNom]

Interesting bit of information I read about the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.......they will be the first mRNA vaccines to ever be approved by the FDA. So basically, a novel vaccine for a novel virus.

Without trying to explain something a bit outside of my scope of knowledge, an mRNA vaccine differs from more traditional vaccines (which use inactivated or dead pieces of virus) in that it uses manufactured bits of mRNA to "teach" your body to produce the viral proteins in order to recognize and fight them. This is most important to us primarily because the time it takes to produce this type of vaccines is far less than traditional vaccines which have to grow and handle the viral particles then prepare them for putting in the vaccine.

The mRNA in the vaccine are basically customized in the lab for the specific pathogen, so this potentially will open up the door to a number of other vaccines for all kinds of pathogen, potentially even types of cancer.

Of course, the body doesn't necessarily like being pumped full of foreign mRNA and is subject to inflammatory responses and potential long term effects we don't know about yet, but it's interesting that this vaccine could be the first of a whole new and promising world of vaccines.

[Nursemedic74, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

Interesting and scary!  The potential is present but there hasn’t been any peer review.  What are the long term affects, no one knows yet.  Yes, the science is there for a new era in treatment but at what cost?  

[The Seasoned Nurse, BSN, RN]

I’m afraid there will be a significant number of people who will not take it because

1. COVID conspiracies 

and

2. Vaccine conspiracies 

are creating a perfect storm of mistrust. Nurses on the frontlines need all of the accurate information in order to battle this beast. I’m expecting microchip stories and a social media storm of misinformation. Maybe I should be more optimistic but I feel that I can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel yet.