What Is The Vaccine Made Of

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How was the COVID-19 vaccine made, and how do we know its safe? | NHS

The world’s first plant-based COVID vaccine, developed by Quebec company, Medicago, is hoping for Canadian approval by the end of 2021. During Phase 3 clinical trials, the shot showed a high efficacy rate against COVID infection 71 percent against all variants and 75.3 percent against Delta when enhanced by GlaxoSmithKline’s booster. The trials occurred before Omnicron was discovered, so the efficacy against that variant is unknown.

Are Vaccines Alive Or Dead

Vaccines fall into three major types:

Live vaccines

Dead vaccines

mRNA vaccines

Live vaccines are made of living viruses or bacteria that are weaker than the normal germs that cause infections. They make a strong immune response because theyre similar to normal germs, but they dont cause infection because theyre weakened.

Dead vaccines are made with either killed viruses or bacteria or small parts of them. When used in a vaccine, these dead pieces of germs teach your immune system to defend the body against the living version of the germs.

Unlike the other two types, mRNA vaccines are neither live nor dead. They use new technology to deliver genetic instructions to the body for how to build its defense to a given germ.

People Have Followed Along With Haydon’s Experience On Twitter

Haydon said he’s been amazed at the level of engagement of people following his story on social media. As a science communicator, he’s noticed more people are paying attention to science news, especially when it comes to vaccine development.

The attention he’s gotten has been overwhelmingly positive, Haydon said. A lot of people have reached out to him saying they too would like to volunteer for a vaccine trial. He tells them opportunities vary regionally, and he would encourage folks to look into research studies in their areas.

“It’s been incredible to see this go from an experimental vaccine I was getting and nobody knew if it was going to work, to seeing dozens of people posting their vaccine selfies every day,” Haydon said. “It’s just a really cool feeling to see it have a real impact in the world.”

Vaccine Development: Vaccines Approved For Use And In Clinical Trials

The speed at which the first COVID-19 vaccines were developed was extraordinary. We have previously looked into the history of vaccine development. The measles vaccine was found relatively rapidly: it took only 10 years from the discovery of the pathogen to the development of the first vaccine. But for typhoid it took more than a century, and for some diseases for which weve known the pathogens for more than a century we still havent found an effective vaccine.

The development of a vaccine against COVID-19 has been much faster than the development of any other vaccine. Within less than a year several successful vaccines have already been announced and were approved for use in some countries.

The hope is that even more manufacturers develop vaccines for COVID-19. This will be important because eventually a very large share of the world population needs to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

We are on the way to several vaccines against COVID-19 vaccine trackers monitor the progress:

Several institutions maintain websites on which they list COVID-19 candidate vaccines that are currently being developed:

Oxford/AstraZeneca, Sinopharm/Beijing, Sinovac, Sputnik V

Mrna Vaccines Are Newly Available To The Public But Have Been Studied For Decades

Researchers have been studying and working with mRNA vaccines for decades. Interest has grown in these vaccines because they can be developed in a laboratory using readily available materials. This means vaccines can be developed and produced in large quantities faster than with other methods for making vaccines.

mRNA vaccines have been studied before for flu, Zika, rabies, and cytomegalovirus . As soon as the necessary information about the virus that causes COVID-19 was available, scientists began designing the mRNA instructions for cells to build the unique spike protein into an mRNA vaccine.

Future mRNA vaccine technology may allow for one vaccine to provide protection against multiple diseases, thus decreasing the number of shots needed for protection against common vaccine-preventable diseases.

Beyond vaccines, cancer research has used mRNA to trigger the immune system to target specific cancer cells.

Do Vaccines Contain Aborted Fetal Tissue

Several common vaccines are made by growing viruses in fetal embryo cells. These cells originally came from tissue obtained from two fetuses that were legally aborted in the early 1960s.

The same cells have continued to grow in a laboratory and are still used to make vaccines today. No additional cells have been harvested from aborted fetuses since then, but the topic is controversial because of where the original cells came from.

The vaccines that grow in these fetal cells include:

In 2011, the Food and Drug Administration approved an oral adenovirus vaccine made from human fetal embryo fibroblasts for use in military populations only. Fibroblasts are the main type of cell in connective tissue, and they produce proteins that give tissues structure.

Keep reading to learn more about vaccines and whether or not they contain aborted fetal tissue. You will also learn about alternatives to traditional vaccines.

Verywell / Nusha Ashjaee

Remnants Of The Vaccine Production Process

Vaccine manufacturers need sufficient quantities of bacteria and viruses to make the required doses.

Bacteria or viruses are often grown in large numbers before undergoing purification and then attenuation or inactivation during the production process.

Although most of the materials used during this expansion phase will be present in trace amounts or not at all in the final product, they may feature on the list of ingredients.

Antibiotics are used in the production of vaccines against some viruses to prevent bacterial contamination. The most commonly used antibiotics are neomycin, streptomycin, polymyxin B, gentamicin, and kanamycin.

Acidity regulators, such as succinic acid and disodium adipate, help keep the pH at the correct level during the expansion process.

Bovine serum is a component in some growth media formulations.

Ovalbumin is a protein in the whites of chicken eggs. The viral particles used in some flu and rabies vaccines are grown on chicken eggs, making it possible that small traces of ovalbumin will appear in the final product.

Glutaraldehyde and formaldehyde are chemicals used to inactivate toxins from viruses and bacteria in some vaccines. These chemicals are toxic in large quantities.

According to the Vaccine Knowledge Project at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, âa pear contains around 50 times more formaldehyde than is found in any vaccine.â

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Whistleblower Doctor Speaks Out After First Nations Patients Experience Serious Vaccine Side Effects

Whistleblower doctor speaks out after First Nations patients experience serious vaccine side effects

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Dr. Charles Hoffe, a family doctor from Lytton, British Columbia, is no longer willing to be silent about his concerns regarding the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

After just 900 people in Lytton were vaccinated with the shot, Dr. Hoffe observed numerous concerning allergic reactions and neurological side effects from the vaccine, with the most concerning reactions occurring in First Nations patients.

As any good doctor would do after administering a new treatment that may have unexpected harmful side effects, Dr. Hoffe began to share his findings with other medical professionals, only to be chastised for creating vaccine hesitancy.

Focused on his oath to his patients, rather than the fear of being punished for raising such concerns, Dr. Hoffe wrote an open letter to B.C. Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry.

In stark contrast to the deleterious effects of this vaccine in our community, we have not had to give any medical care what-so-ever, to anyone with COVID-19. So in our limited experience, this vaccine is quite clearly more dangerous than COVID-19, Dr. Hoffe wrote, calling for answers from the provincial Ministry of Health.

Dr. Hoffe’s open letter to Dr. Bonnie Henry:

Spread the Word!

Browse By Vaccine Pharmacy Or State

What are the COVID-19 vaccines made of? Answering your questions

While vaccine eligibility is now open to all adults, it may still be difficult to understand how and where you can get vaccinated. Our resources below can help you find and request an appointment, as well as help you understand what to expect after you receive the vaccine.

Browse by vaccine brand:

Johnson & Johnson | Moderna | Pfizer

Browse by pharmacy:

Browse by state:

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Number Of Vaccination Centres

Total-91,610

As of 22 October This data is subject to change anytime.

Citizens above the age of 18 can book appointments through the COWIN platform or can do a Walk-In registration on site.All vaccine centres have registration desks, vaccine booths and observation rooms.Vaccine certificates can be downloaded digitally through the COWIN platform, or citizens can ask for a hard copy from vaccination centres.All government run vaccination centers provide free of cost vaccines, private centers do charge.

Safety And Side Effects

The COVID-19 vaccines currently approved have been thoroughly reviewed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in the UK . The regulatory team have completed a full review of the safety information reported from the trials, which includes several months follow-up data from 23,000 people for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, 44,000 people for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 30,000 people for the Moderna vaccine.

This means that the MHRA has reviewed all the information from the clinical trials of these vaccines, which includes assessing all the side effects and medical conditions that people in the trials experienced.

The number of illnesses reported in the vaccinated group is compared with the control group, to see whether the vaccine could be associated with an increase in any medical conditions. The rates of illness are also compared with the rate of those illnesses in the general population. For any severe illnesses reported, a specialist doctor involved in treating the person and an independent safety committee consider whether the illness could be associated to the vaccine.

All the information about adverse events reported during the trial has been provided to the regulators, and the safety profile of COVID-19 vaccines is similar to that of other vaccines.

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Reporting A Possible Serious Reaction

Contact your health care provider if you experience:

a side effect following vaccination with a COVID-19 vaccine
any persistent, new or worsening symptoms

Health care providers must report possible reactions following vaccination to their local public health authority. The public health authority then reports them to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Reported allergic reactions and side effects to COVID-19 vaccines are published weekly in our Reported side effects following COVID-19 vaccination report.

Ontarios Top Doctor Clarifies Child Vaccine Remarks

Seven-year-old Lorena Limdao is given her COVID-19 vaccine by Dr. Kevin Evelyn of UHN as twin sister Mabel and eleven-year-old brother William wait after receiving theirs at a vaccine clinic in the Jane and Finch Mall in Toronto on Jan. 13.Chris Young/The Canadian Press

Kieran Moore, Ontarios Chief Medical Officer of Health, retracted remarks he made this week on COVID-19 vaccinations for children after critics charged he was worrying vaccine-hesitant parents and fuelling conspiracy theorists. But some experts say the remarks were just a repetition of the National Advisory Council on Immunizations current position.

The controversy, which prompted Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca to call for Dr. Moore to clarify his statements or be fired, was seen by some as the latest communication misstep for the province as it scrambles to deal with a massive wave of casescaused by the Omicron variant, and tries to encourage the faster vaccination of both children and adults.

The provinces top doctor was asked Wednesday why Ontario had not put the COVID-19 vaccine on the list of shots that students attending public schools are required to receive , which includes measles, mumps and other communicable diseases.

Dr. Moore went on to urge parents to go ahead and get their kids the shot, which he called safe and effective.

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A Vaccine For Variants

Many of the coronavirus variants now in circulation have key mutations in their spike proteins that help the virus bind more tightly to human cells or evade some kinds of antibodies.

Pfizer and BioNTech are developing and testing new versions of their vaccine against recent variants, and might eventually alter their genetic recipe to mass-produce Covid-19 vaccines that target specific variants.

Original

protein

gene

To do that, Pfizer would go back to where their vaccine production began, to the master cell bank in Chesterfield that keeps rings of DNA in deep freeze.

A new batch of DNA carrying modified coronavirus genes could eventually produce a slightly different vaccine, one that encourages the immune system to better recognize recent coronavirus mutations.

Chesterfield video by Elliot deBruyn. Dodger Stadium video by Luisa Conlon. Video editing by Meg Felling. Cinematography directed by Jonah M. Kessel. Additional video production by Alexandra Eaton and Sarah Kerr.

Andover and Kalamazoo video provided by Pfizer, with some barcodes and other identifying information obscured.

What Are The Ingredients In The Astrazeneca Vaccine

This explainer is more than 90 days old. Some of the information might be out of date or no longer relevant. Browse our homepage for up to date content or request information about a specific topic from our team of scientists.

This article has been translated from its original language. if you have any feedback on the translation.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is made up of a number of ingredients, including an active ingredient called an ‘antigen’ and several other non-active ingredients called ‘excipients.’ These ingredients range from forms of salt that help preserve the vaccine to water that dilutes it into the right concentration.

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Different Types Of Vaccines

The types of vaccines include: whole virus vaccines genetic material RNA vaccines subunit recombinant polysaccharide and conjugate vaccines toxoid vaccines and viral vector vaccines.

Whole virus vaccine

Many conventional vaccines use whole viruses to trigger an immune response. Live attenuated vaccines such as the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine use a weakened form of the virus that can still replicate but are unlikely to cause disease. Inactivated vaccines such as hepatitis A use viruses whose genetic material has been destroyed so they cannot replicate.

Nucleic acid

Nucleic acid vaccines use genetic material either DNA or some forms of RNA to provide cells with the instructions to make the antigen. Some of the new COVID-19 vaccines use messenger RNA technology.

Viral vector

Viral vector vaccines also contain genetic material that give our cells instructions to produce antigens. They use a harmless virus as the vector or carrier which is different from the one the vaccine is targeting to deliver these instructions into the cell. An example is the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine.

Subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines

These use one or more antigens such as a protein or sugar to trigger an immune response to the germ. Conjugate vaccines for example combine a weak antigen carried by a strong antigen to ensure a stronger immune response. An example is the recombinant hepatitis B vaccine containing a surface antigen.

Toxoid vaccines

Is Mrna Technology Safe

How the Flu Vaccine Is Made | NBC 4 I-Team

Although this is the first time mRNA technology has successfully been used in a vaccine, it has been in development for over a decade, with many studies and trials taking place over the past few years.

MRNA vaccines present the body with a set of instructions to help it trigger creation of the antibodies to fight coronavirus. It cannot change the DNA of a human cell.

According to Jonas Nilsen, MD and co-founder of Practio “although this is the first time mRNA vaccines have been approved for use in the UK, mRNA technology has been studied and developed for decades. The development of an mRNA vaccine is a breakthrough that could result in vaccines being developed more quickly in the future.

Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been tested on tens of thousands of people, and have been proven to be both highly effective and safe.”

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Pull Dna From Cold Storage

A scientist removes vials of DNA from the master cell bank, the source of every batch of Pfizers Covid-19 vaccine. The vials are kept at 150°C or below, and contain small rings of DNA called plasmids.

Coronavirus

spike proteins

Each plasmid contains a coronavirus gene, the genetic instructions for a human cell to build coronavirus proteins and trigger an immune response to the virus.

Scientists thaw the plasmids and modify a batch of E. coli bacteria to take the plasmids inside their cells.

E. coli

A single vial can eventually produce up to 50 million doses of the vaccine.

STEP 2

What Share Of The Population Has Been Partly Or Fully Vaccinated Against Covid

The following charts show the breakdown of vaccinations by those that have been partly or fully vaccinated. A person is considered partly vaccinated if they have received only one dose of a 2-dose vaccine protocol. A person is considered fully vaccinated if they have received a single-dose vaccine or both doses of a two-dose vaccine.

This data is only available for countries which report the breakdown of doses administered by first and second doses.

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