the epidemic's end?

As soon as COVID-19 revealed itself to the world, we started developing a vaccine. Many different countries, like Russia, China, the US, and Germany, have made great strides in this race to the cure. Russia has already approved and begun to distribute a vaccine, though they did not fully test the impacts. China has sent a vaccine to their military and to high-risk groups. The U.S has multiple companies all working on different timelines. The world is ready for this pandemic to be over, but many people are left with questions about this vaccine: How do I know it’s safe? What is it made of? Will it bring everything back to normal?

Vaccines come in many different forms, but for the Coronavirus there are two we need to know: Messenger RNA and Viral Vectors. There are many, many more vaccine types, but these two are easy to understand and the most prominent in Coronavirus research. More information on vaccines and production of these vaccines can be found here (BioPharmaDive).

Viral vectors are the most popular vaccine for this pandemic. Viral vectors vaccines take live pieces of the virus and bring it into your body. The virus would normally take over your cells, but most of these vaccines block the virus from taking over. Then, your body fights against it and learns how to kill the virus. The COVID-19 vaccines are not made to invade your body, because researchers don’t want the chance of hurting anyone.

Messenger RNA vaccines, on the other hand, trick the body into making the virus on its own. Your body learns how to prevent the virus. This self-made virus cannot fully form, so it won’t get you sick. This type is brand new, being made specifically for this pandemic. There isn’t a lot of information on it, since it’s so new, but most of what we know is from cancer research from the last few years.

China and Russia’s vaccines haven’t even been proven to stop the spread of coronavirus. Russia claims the vaccine is effective enough. But there is little to no evidence that people who’ve had it are less likely to get COVID-19. It merely produces a certain amount of antibodies, deemed enough to stop this virus. Since the phase three trials weren’t finished, we won’t know the true outcome until much later.

The world is currently facing a big question, that will only be asked more as more countries release vaccines: who will get them? There will likely be a small amount of these doses, and there are no set guidelines for how and when they will be released.

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most far-reaching public health crises ever to afflict the world. As soon as this virus hit, countries around the globe have worked tirelessly to find a vaccine for this deadly disease. While the vaccine is still a hypothetical for many, the work of the scientific and medical community over the course of this pandemic has been monumental, and the speed with which new vaccines are being developed and tested is a huge scientific accomplishment. Ultimately, despite the breakneck speed at which scientists have created these vaccines, they will likely not be disseminated for many months to come, after the world has been assured that they are effective and, most importantly, safe.