There is a great deal of fear and misinformation circulating about the new vaccine.
Too many people are simply fearful of the new Phizer / BioNTech vaccine a collaboration between American Phizer company and German BioN tech. That is unfortunate since a vaccine will be effective only if a good majority of the population is vaccinated. I offer here my very simplified version of a highly complex process to help those who are not certain that they should take this step.
The word “vaccine” is derived from that for “cow” or la vacca”. Why?
In the 18th century cows were the source of the vaccine. Deadly small pox plagues date back to the ancient Egyptians and has infected humans with horrible deadly consequences for thousands of years with a mortality rate which often killed one third of the people infected. Furthermore, those who survived were often cruelly disfigured with many deep pockmark scars. These ugly telltale scars figured in the way a vaccine was finally developed for the disease.
In ancient China, where such plagues are common even in modern times , physicians took note of the fact that survivors of the disease, easily identified as those who had the disfiguring marks on their faces, were protected from a repeat infection.
The Chinese began a form of “vaccination” in which a scraping of the pus from the pustule of an infected person was rubbed into a scratch on the skin of another individual. This inoculation of disease germs into the skin would cause an eruption at the site. The inoculated person contracted a milder form of the disease. The vaccinated person was protected from the full force of the disease yet was still faced with with a 3% mortality rate! (Today Covid 19 has a fatality rate of @ 1.4% and we consider that level very threatening. ) But for the ancient Chinese inoculation was a good deal. The inoculation with pus decreased the possibility of death from 33 per 100 down to 3 out of 100. This was a great improvement. But one can understand that the persistent mortality figures for those who were vaccinated were the outstanding reason why these vaccinations w ere feared and avoided.
Centuries later in England, where small pox was a frequent and feared visitor, it was often noted that milk maids and cow herders were almost all free from the disease and as well the scourge of the all too common, disfiguring pock marks.
Very few of these dairy workers ever contracted or died of the disease. Early on physicians of that era ( one was Edward Jenner in 1796) made a connection between the fact that cows were often infected with a mild disease called “cow pox” and milk maids (who were in close daily contact with cows for milking) often contracted the same illness. But as a result of that infection, they were it seemed protected from the much more deadly and disfiguring “small pox”.
To later investigators it was clear that what was happening. The introduction of disease germs into the human body caused a physiological reaction. The body recognized the cow pox virus as an “invader” and it created antibodies to attack and kill these invading organisms. These same antibodies were then ready and primed to attack and kill the very similar but more deadly small pox germs if and when they entered the body.
Late in the 18th Century Dr. Jenner popularized the practice of “vaccination” by taking a bit of pus from the pustule on the skin of a sick cow infected with cowpox, make a scratch on the skin of the person to be inoculated and smear the pus into the wound. The “vaccinated” person did get sick, but only with a mild-disease....perhaps a few pustules and a mild fever. They would recover, but were then protected from the fearful, deadly and disfiguring small pox. Jenner concluded that that those who had been inoculated or “vaccinated” with cow pox had produced and army of antibodies primed to attack any similar appearing invader organisms.
Here in the American colonies of that era, Benjamin Franklin the autodidact, scientist, publisher, politician and polymath was well aware of and an advocate for the process of vaccination to protect the people from small pox. Franklin experienced the “plague” as a young man when small pox ravaged Boston in 1721.
During the 1775 plague however, Benjamin Franklin was unable to convince his wife, that their son Benji should be vaccinated. Franklin regretted his hesitation to the end of his days when little “Benji”, his dearly loved and only legitmate son —succumbed to the disease.
An outbreak of small pox during the Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1782 threatened to weaken and decimate the American troops and end the glorious uprising prematurely, but George Washington (who also had first hand knowledge of this disease ( and scars to prove it) made the bold decision to inoculate all of his Continental Army troops with cow pox. Though there were many who were fearful of the process, most troops obeyed the command and the feared impact of the plague on battle readiness did not impact the Continental forces as some had feared.
So with this history, it is clear that though vaccinations are effective, the associated negative results have had an oversized impact on public perception —and these have been remembered more than the overall successes.
But this new “vaccine” from Phizer is something as different from Jenner’s cow pox vaccinations and our own flu and polio vaccines as today’s most advanced Tesla electric car is from the old Ford “Model T” of which the only similarity is that both vehicles have four wheels.
The Phizer BioNtech vaccine does not use weakened viruses or parts of the SARS Covid 19 virus to create a form of the virus to inject into the patient to generate the antibody reaction. It’s labs have no covid virus and there is no chance of contamination.
The ingenious researchers have created a protein from “scratch” that mimics the chemical make up of the now so familiar spikes on the “corona” of this now infamous spike-crowned virus.
It is the spike on the crown of the corona virus which is used to “poke” through the cell membrane of the host cell (human) in the nasal passages or lungs. Once inside the virus takes over that cell’s mechanisms and converts it into a “factory” to make new virus cells. When that invaded cell dies the newly formed corona viruses pour out to infect other cells as they multiply exponentially. The result is that the patient gets sick—some say they feel like they were “hit by a train”—some die.
The new vaccine uses advanced genetic processes to chemically produce a protein which looks just like the protein which make up the spike on the corona virus. The researchers wrapped this protein in a fatty globule (lipid) to protect it and to permit it to pass through the cell membrane of a human cell. The cell membranes are also made of fatty lipid substances.
Once inside the cell, this “mimic of the spike protein” is programmed to encourage the cell to reproduce copies of itself of this spike protein. The “protein like spikes” fill the cell and when that cell dies, the mimic spike proteins are released into the body, which like in other cases we have described above are seen as “invaders”. The body makes antibodies against these invader “spikes” which then course all through the body.
The inoculated person’s blood is now primed with antibodies against the spike proteins of any invading corona virus. They will attack the spikes on the virus and either kill it or prevent it from invading host cells.
If infected with the SARS Corona virus, the blood cells of the inoculated individual will recognize these spike proteins as invaders for which they are prepared with a myriad of antibodies. They attack the spike structures and disable the virus’ ability to invade or enter host cells and thus prevent the multiplication of the virus.
Phizer’s vaccine is said to be 95% effective. Do not make the mistake Benjamin Franklin made! Go for it!!. This vaccine can save your life.
This Phizer vaccine is claimed to be effective against recent new strains of the virus. I suspect that the reason for this is that the Phizer antibodies are designed to target the spike proteins which are more likely to remain stable even as the genetic make up of the virus itself evolves.
. That is my unsupported hypothesis A guess only.
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