Page 136 - South Mississippi Living - June, 2021

HOW DO
vaccines
WORK?
story by Victoria Snyder
Getting a vaccine can be a scary experience. Maybe you’re not sure how it works, or you’ve heard conflicting things about it, or maybe you’re just plain scared of needles (don’t worry,
I completely get it). In situations where one is unsure, it is usually best to learn more to calm your fears. In this case, we’ve done some research for you! There are multiple types
of vaccines, but we’ll be focusing on the basics of traditional vaccines and new mRNA vaccines.
Traditional Vaccines
While there are a variety of “traditional” vaccines, the thing they have in common is this: they use a weakened or inactivated virus, or a crucial part
of the virus’s protein coat. Our immune cells recognize this as an infectious agent and learn how to fight it off. This teaches our immune system to attack the actual virus if it ever enters our bodies. Depending on the specific type of vaccine, booster shots may be necessary to help you stay immune.
mRNA Vaccines
While the vaccine itself may be “new,” decades worth of research has gone into mRNA vaccines. mRNA stands for “messenger RNA” and is genetic material that teaches our cells how to make a protein or piece of protein that will prompt an immune response from our bodies. These types of vaccines are made up of mRNA with directions for how to create an important protein unique to the virus, and your body learns how to fight it off. These types of vaccines do not contain any part of the virus.
COVID-19 vaccines are available in both forms. Pfizer and Moderna are mRNA vaccines and Johnson & Johnson is a viral vector (traditional) vaccine.
*Information for this article was sourced from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), Harvard Medical School, and Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation.
136 | June 2021
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