This article was written by Scout Pollack of Richard Montgomery HS
The pandemic has been a serious threat to the wellbeing of American citizens for around 10 months now, with lockdown beginning in early March of 2020. Given the consequences of contracting this virus, scientists around the world have been working on a solution. Two vaccines have been approved by the FDA and are being administered nationwide. As we enter a chapter that gives hope to the possibility of returning to normal life, more questions arise about how these vaccines actually work and who gets priority access and how. Though most of the future concerning the virus is yet to be solidified, concerts and school seem closer than ever.
The first thing to understand is simple: how does a vaccine work? While many different illnesses require other methods, they all function on the same basic principle. When you get sick, white blood cells are deployed to fight off the infected cells. Since the virus is new to your immune system, it takes a lot of time and energy for these cells to kill all the parts of the illness and is the reason you may be tired and symptomatic for long periods of time. What a vaccine essentially does, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is send in white blood cells—or antibodies—that teach and protect the body if you ever catch the virus. That way, if your body ever encounters the infection, your cells know how to fight it faster and more efficiently. COVID-19 is relatively the same, as The Center for Disease Control (CDC) explains, and scientists have developed an antibody that is able to fight off the relatively new virus.
Now that vaccines are FDA-approved, the problem the country faces now is how to distribute the vaccine. One of the main difficulties of the wide distribution of the vaccine is that it has to be stored at -112°F to -76°F—in other words, in a very cold environment. Dry ice is needed to transport the vials, and providing crates with enough insulation is a challenge within itself. When the shipping containers arrive at their destinations, those facilities need freezers that can hold the appropriate volume of vials at the right temperature, or else the antibodies are rendered useless.
Pfizer, the company that is distributing the majority of the vaccines worldwide, has long and specific instructions for thawing and administering the drug. They cannot just dispense the vaccines as quickly as they can upon arrival. The vaccine requires two separate shots, two to three weeks apart in order to minimize symptoms and improve immunity. In this time, the vials need to be kept cold and thawed later for the final dose. With this set of guidelines, the number of places that have the proper equipment are greatly diminished and the struggle of distribution arises.
As soon as the vaccine was announced to the greater public, most people wanted it. An important decision then befell the nation. Who would get the first shots, and how long would the supply last? The US has received around 2.9 million vaccines from Pfizer, BBC reports, with 25 million distributed by March 2021 in a projection made in early December. For now, the priority rests with frontline workers, such as doctors, nurses and other hospital employees. The next group includes those at highest risk to the virus, people with pre-existing conditions and citizens 65 or older. Currently, there is no vaccine for children younger than 16, so the future of infants being vaccinated remains unknown.
For now, however, the CDC still advises people to stay home whenever travel is not absolutely necessary and to reinforce social distancing and mask-wearing in populated areas. Quarantine is recommended for those at especially high risk and tests are available for those who feel symptomatic or may have been exposed. For a full set of restrictions and guidelines, the CDC website is a good place to start. As always, stay safe, healthy and at home for the foreseeable future!
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