Covid-19 – Update -2 , Part 1
Covid 19 has taken huge number of human lives. Vaccine for Covid-19 is being given to the people. We discussed about the Covid-19 vaccines in our previous article “Covid-19-Update-1” , Today we will cover updates upto February, 9, 2021.
Table of contents :
- Current Covid-19 Vaccines.
- Why mRNA vaccines are speedier ?
- mRNA technology.
- New Covid-19 vaccines.
- Covid-19’s new variant.
- Protect yourself against new variant.
- Virus mutation.
- Side effects of Covid-19 vaccines.
- Latest on Covid-19.
Current Covid-19 Vaccines.
The following vaccines have emergency use authorization so far:
1 = Pfizer – BioNTech vaccine is recommended for people of 16
years of age and older. It is 95 % effective as preventing
illness.
2 = Moderna-NIAID vaccine is recommended for people of 18
years age and older. It is claimed to be 94.1 % effective.
3 = Chinese and Russian vaccine “Spuynik V” are also being used
in many countries.
Why mRNA vaccines are speedier ?.
Moderna-NIAID vaccine and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine use mRNA technology. They use Genetic Information instead of Viral base method. Genetic information has ability to train the immune system to identify the SARS-COV-2 virus that causes Covid-19.
Vaccines based on mRNA technology are speedier because the infrastructure required is small and quick as compared to other vaccines. There is a component which allow the manufacturing process very fast.
mRNA Technology.
Dr. Thomas Kenyon, chief health officer at project HOPE told that NIH was already working on mRNA technology. In mRNA technology, the vaccine deliver coronavirus S protein’s generic material . In human body’s own cells use the informations stored in mRNA and produce the S protein. This S protein makes our immune system to recognize these spikes and prepare them to face future attacks. In short, “When real virus attacks, our immune system attacks the real surface protein of the virus , inactivate it, using the abilities of our immune system”.
New Covid-19 vaccines.
Nanoparticle based Covid-19 vaccine.
Though mRNA vaccines are effective against Covid-19 virus, but
they are expensive and need -60 C to – 80 C temperature to store . It makes expensive tor its transportation . Keeping in view these factors the scientists was trying to develop a vaccine which is cheaper , effective and can be stored or transported at a normal room temperature.
Biochemists at Stanford University, California have developed a prototype of a Nanoparticle – based Covid-19 vaccine . They believe that the vaccine would be cheap, safe and effective. Also it will remain stable at normal room temperature. Their preclinical study show that a single dose of the vaccine could provide robust immunity.
The Stanford vaccine is based on Nanoparticles of an iron containing a protein known as “Ferritin”. Each Nanoparticle of Ferritin is surrounded or packed with several spikes protein that the virus use to penetrate its host calls.
The scientists at Sanford are trying to “fine tune” the Nanoparticle based vaccine and will start clinical trials in humans very soon.
Covid-19’s new Variant :
Variant # 1 – “B.1.1.7”
Covid-19 is considered a punishment from Al-Mighty Allah. It is the first time that mankind has faced such dangerous and destructive epidemic. The whole world ‘s scientists are trying to control this deadly epidemic. Some vaccines were found effective against Covid-19 virus, then the virus mutated another variant.
The variant was identified in United Kingdome some time in September , 2020. Scientists gave it a name “B.1.1.7”. It was spreading fast in U.K. Now at this time, the new variant has been spotted in more than 60 countries.
The scientists are studying its structure . They found that :
* The new Covid-19 variant B.1.1.7 is a new virus from SARS-
Cov-2 mutation .
* The variant has a higher rate of transmissibility, which is
56 % more than other SARS-2-Cov-2 variants.
* The variant may be 50 % more infectious than the original
virus.
Variant # 2 – “1.351”
This variant emerged in South Africa. It is an independent of the variant detected in U.K. It shares some mutations with B.1.1.7 variant.
Variant # 3 – Pi.
It was detected in 4 travelers from Brazil. This variant has a set of additional mutations that may affect its ability to be recognized by antibodies.
A Good news : The clinical trials show that current vaccines are effective against SARS-Cov-2 variant.
Many questions are still to be answered. Is it likely to cause more severe Covid-19 ? Will children could be easy victim of above variant?.
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