Will it be like the flu vaccine? Would it be more painful? And what about side effects?
U.S. The Food and Drug Administration – the two leading runners in obtaining Emergency Use Authority from Pfizer / Bioentech and Modern – uses the new mRNA technology. No U.S.-licensed vaccine has ever used it, although researchers have been studying it for decades, against infections such as the flu, rabies and Zika, and even for some types of cancer.
The way these mRNA vaccines work is that they instruct our bodies to make a small portion of this particular coronavirus in the form of messenger RNA (SARS-CoV-2) – specifically the spike protein. When our body receives these instructions, it begins to produce spike protein. It in turn stimulates our immune system, recognizing the spike protein as “foreign” to making antibodies. So when we are infected with a real virus, our body is ready to fight it.
This vaccine requires two doses: one to make the body major, and then a few weeks later, another shot to increase the response. The results of the study show that Pfizer / Bioentech and Modernna vaccines are 95% effective each.
But because the technology is so new to the vaccine, it raises many questions and some concerns for which it is intended.
One person who took part in the Moderna trial said that getting vaccinated was definitely not a walk in the park but he would definitely do it again.
Yasir Batalvi, a 24-year-old college college graduate living in the Boston area, said he originally signed up to join a trial on the NIH website in early July because he felt he had gone to do something to help during the epidemic.
“I feel very helpless. I mean this epidemic has really affected everyone’s life very effectively. And it’s not just life, you know, it’s livelihood,” Batalvi told CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr Sanjay Gupta. “And so I signed up because I kind of just wanted to do what I could. And I don’t think I would necessarily be selected. But I got my phone call in September, and then by mid-October, I was registered. . “
He was turning a little panic into his sleeve, especially when he was given a 22-page consent form to sign. But he said he felt he was doing no public service.
“I think the coronavirus is such a significant disruption to our lives, I decided that’s what I had to do. It felt like a civic duty,” he said. “Because I think mass vaccination is the only real way out of the epidemic that we’re in.”
So what did it feel like?
“Really felt like the first injection flu shot, which is basically a little pinch next to your hand,” Batalvi said. “Once I left the hospital, that evening, the inertia got a little worse. It was definitely tidy, but you don’t really feel like you’re moving your hand too far from your shoulder. But the side effect is very local. I mean it’s just in your hand. It’s in the muscles. And that’s about it. It doesn’t really affect anything and you feel better. “
It was after the first dose. But the second dose was different.
“I actually had some symptoms after I got the second dose. Once I got the second dose, I was fine when I was in the hospital. But that evening was rough. I mean I had a low-grade fever, and fatigue and chills,” Batalvi said. Said. He said he went out during the day and evening, but he was “ready to go by the next morning.”
He said he called the study doctors to tell him about his symptoms. They weren’t scared and told him it shouldn’t be anywhere.
The feeling of the weather does not mean that you got Covid-19 from the vaccine – in fact, experts say that having this type of reaction shows that your body is reacting the way it should, and that it should stop anyone from getting vaccinated or going. Not back to their second dose.
Vaccine specialist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Dr. “It means your immune response is working for you. You should feel good about it,” said Paul Fitte. “And [there] It shouldn’t be a problem to really come back for another shot, knowing that you are now in a better position to fight this horrible virus, which has killed more than 250,000 people and could have long-term effects. ”
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Anthony Fawcett said the same thing to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday.
“What the body tells you through that reaction is that it is responding well to the injection.”
“When you get a vaccine injection, you will react. In some people they don’t feel anything,” he said. “Others have hand pain. Some have hand pain and a slight chill, almost like you have the flu-like syndrome, and a minority of them have a fever.”
“All of this goes away in about 24 hours, or at most, in 48 hours,” said Fawcett, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, adding that it’s important to be honest about the side effects people may experience.
Monsef Sloi, chief scientific adviser to Operation Operations, said on Monday that about 10 to 15% of immune study subjects would develop “very significant side effects.”
“Most people will see significant side effects. It’s clear that – compared to 95% protection against fatal or significantly weakening infections – I think that’s the right balance.”
Side effects like what Batalvi experiences should not be confused with safety issues. Any vaccine manufacturer, in search of FDA approval or authorization, has to show two months of safety data after giving a second dose – because at the time when the most serious safety issues occurred in previous trials. On that front, it has yet, so good for both Moderna and Pfizer. But only time will tell whether any serious security incidents will be shown in the next few years.
“While we know that within 90 months of vaccination, 95-90% of the side effects have occurred, it is really good for the two vaccines currently being introduced, the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. We have no experience for a year or two, and as we go Let’s go learn, ”Slow said.
Batalvi is not sure if he has received an active vaccine or a placebo. But based on his experience, he said he could make a good estimate.
“You know it’s a double-blind, randomized study. So neither the study doctors nor the moderns know if I’ve been vaccinated. But I’m sure I’ve got a real deal based on the side effects I have.” He said.
Batalvi said he is hoping for an end to the epidemic so that his family can give birth to his sister’s new twins – a boy and a girl – early in the week.
“I hope that once this vaccine comes out, people feel confident taking it. I mean, I’m here: I took the vaccine – it was okay. I think we can get this.”
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