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“A little bit apprehensive, but most of all absolutely delighted and excited that I’m here and I understand.” Here’s how one of the world’s first people in line to receive the new coronavirus vaccine is getting closer to things as it begins to be administered to people in Britain on Tuesday.
Katie Stewart, 37, is a consulting anesthetist at Borders General Hospital on the outskirts of Melrose in Scotland. Her work treating Covid patients in intensive care and her upcoming role as a coronavirus vaccinator makes her eligible for one of 800,000 doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine available in the UK.
Fast guide
How does the Pfizer / BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine work?
The Pfizer / BioNTech Covid vaccine is an mRNA vaccine. Essentially, mRNA is a molecule used by living cells to convert the sequences of genes in DNA into proteins that are the building blocks of all its fundamental structures. A segment of DNA is copied (“transcribed”) into a fragment of mRNA, which in turn is “read” by the cell’s tools to synthesize proteins.
In the case of an mRNA vaccine, the mRNA of the virus is injected into the muscle and our own cells read it and synthesize the viral protein. The immune system reacts to these proteins, which by themselves cannot cause disease, as if they had been transmitted by the entire virus. This generates a protective response that studies suggest lasts for some time.
The first two Covid-19 vaccines that announced the results of the three phase 3 trials were based on mRNA. They were the first to get out of the blocks because as soon as the genetic code for Sars-CoV-2 was known, it was published by the Chinese in January 2020, companies that had been working on this technology were able to start producing the mRNA. of the virus. Making conventional vaccines takes much longer.
Adam Finn, Professor of Pediatrics at the Bristol Children’s Vaccine Center, University of Bristol
“I hope this is the beginning of the end of the pandemic,” Stewart told The Guardian.
Last week, Britain’s drug regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), became the first in the Western world to approve the vaccine. The UK has bought 40 million doses, enough for 20 million people, but most are expected to arrive next year. The first doses are intended for nursing home residents and staff, people aged 80 and over, and frontline NHS workers.
Stewart said that while the vaccine marked a welcome milestone in the fight against coronavirus, he hoped the impact would be felt more widely.
“It’s not just about Covid, it’s about people in nursing homes who enjoy their last days with their family and have a quality of life,” he said. “There are people with cancer who cannot be with their families, having to isolate themselves at home for months and months. There are people who are so lonely that they have taken their own lives.
“I hope we can start looking forward to doing all the things we love again, being with our family, going on vacation and enjoying life.”
Due to patient confidentiality, Stewart was unable to reveal how many patients he had treated, or was still treating, for coronavirus. But he said that at its peak, his intensive care unit had been “much busier than ever in its 30-year history.”
“When our first patients arrived, we did not know how the disease was transmitted and we were all terrified,” he said. “I’ve never felt so out of control at work before. The first wave passed, and we were all glad we got through it, but the sadness never ended. We still have Covid-19 patients entering hospital and intensive care. “
Stewart said she understood that people were concerned about being immunized and didn’t “think people are dumb for feeling nervous,” but she trusted those behind the vaccine and felt “the benefits far outweigh the risks.”
“It’s okay to be nervous and ask questions,” she said, “but I think this is a great opportunity.”
