Warning: what you're abt to see is a massive thread ahead. Tho its quite intriguing. 0.o
The mRNA vaccines (Pfizer & Moderna) are kind of brilliant at a science level.
-WheatNOil
- The first thing to know is how your immune system works. Basically, your immune cells attack anything foreign to your body. If it sees a protein or a virus or a bacteria or anything that it doesn't recognize, it launches an attack.
- If it's fighting off a virus, for example, it takes time to build up a full attack. It's got to figure out what part of the virus to attack & ramp up production of what it needs to attack those parts. That can take a few days. Meanwhile, the virus is replicating and expanding.
- Once it fights off the virus, though, it remembers it. You've got memory cells in your immune system and if you run into that virus again, your memory cells say "I've seen this asshole before". Your body uses its past experience to demolish the virus before it can make you sick.
- So with that in mind, we return to the vaccine. Scientists looked at the COVID virus and saw a protein on the outside of the virus that looked like a good candidate to launch an immune attack against. That protein, btw, is an important one for the virus. It uses that protein to get into your cells. That protein makes the virus more infectious. In short, that protein makes the virus more of an ASSHOLE!.
- Now COVID has DNA in it, that codes for all of its parts. So scientists looked at the entire DNA sequence of virus and found the sequence of DNA that is the blueprints for that protein. The ASSHOLE protein.
DNA is the blueprint to make things in a cell. Cells take the DNA and transcribe it into RNA. The RNA is the instructions that tell the cell what to make. mRNA(literally the messenger) just gives instructions to the cell to make something
So scientists took the blueprint for the ASSHOLE protein on COVID and made an mRNA version of it. Literally just the instructions on how to make that protein.
these instructions "are" the VACCINE.
The vaccine contains no actual part of the virus. It has only the instructions on how to make the ASSHOLE protein. So, you cant get infected with COVID from the vaccines. You just get these instructions.
Your cells see these instructions and say "sure, i'll make this" So your cells make a bunch of the asshole protein.
Your immune system sees this new protein you're producing and imemdiately says "what... thee.. fudge.. is this?!" And it starts attacking the protein.
Remember it hasn't seen this protein before. It takes awhile to ramp up production. Then it launches an all out war against the asshole protein. The fever, chills, muscle soreness etc,. you might get as vaccine side effects is your body bombing the hell out of the arsehole protein.
So you destroy the AP (which in and of itself cant infect you, its just a protein, not the virus)
Now, here's the imp. part . Your memory cells 'remember' the asshole protein. They reember exactly how to destroy it.
Btw, your body breaks down the mRNA instructions that you got withthe vaccine pretty quickly too. Thats normal. You dont need a bunch of instructions hanging around forever. Your body breaks those down and gets rid of them.
So you've broken down the mRNA instructions. Youve destroyed AP. Everything from the vaccine is gone.
Except for those memory cells who remembers that protein very well.
Then a COVID virus enters your body. Your body has never seen the virus before.
BUT its seen that protein thats on the outside of the virus. Your memory cells say "you've got to be kiddin me. THIS asshole again? Get the fudge outta here!"
Your body's own 'natural immune system' quickly and efficiently launches an all out war, using the template it has from when it destroyed the asshole protein last time. It destroys the virus before it can take hold, replicate, and make you sick.
Congratulations! Now, you're immune to COVID! You've got the blueprints to defeat it as soon as it enters your body.
What if the virus mutates so it doesnt produce the asshole protein any more? Well, since it uses the asshole protein to get into your cells, if it mutates away from the asshole protein, it'll probably also be less infectious. That's what makes the vaccine low-key brilliant.
