Teddies Talks Biology - Issue 9

Ruby Freeland—LVI

During these bizarre times it feels for many people that a vaccine would allow the slow progression to a certain normal- ity that we are all so desperate to get back. However, for many, the vaccine proposes a new sense of concern and is something that should be avoided.

In 2020 the WHO identified ‘’ vaccine hesitancy ’’ as one of the top ten heath threats in the world. Furthermore, it seems that most of the scepticism surrounding vaccinations began from a discretised study. In 1998 a study by Andrew Wakefield into the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine claimed to find a correlation between the vaccine and autism. It ’ s important to note that the study was discredited in 2012 because several elements of it were found to be incorrect and Wakefield was stripped of his medical licence in May 2012. New findings show that vital parts of the study were wrong and found evidence of deliberate fraud in the publica- tion. However, as a result of the initial publication, uptake of the MMR vaccination dropped to 80% in the late 1990s and early 2000s and has taken years to recover. Furthermore, in the age of social media, fake news and propaganda, there are constant and persistent false claims about vaccines. Theories go as far as suggesting that a Covid vaccine

will alter the patient ’ s DNA and that you essentially be- come a genetically modified human being. The Pfizer vaccine, like many other Covid Vaccines is a RNA in- jection. Instead of the traditional vaccine where they inject weakened quantities of the virus, it is a strand of RNA is injected into the body. This then produces a coronavirus spike protein which is recognised by the immune system and then it is able to produce antibod- ies in preparation for the potential fight against infec- tion.

A more plausible concern is that the vaccine may have been developed too quickly. Vaccines can take years to be crafted and perfected to insure they perform correctly and are safe for public use. However, the Covid 19 vaccine has, by its nature, had to be developed at a record pace. To add to this pharmaceutical companies are aware of the profit that can be made from the vaccine due to the demand. However, what many people are not aware of is that though this virus is new scientists have the research from SARS and MERS which are from the same family of coronaviruses. Covid vaccines must also meet the same regulatory standards as all other medicines and have had much more financial aid and readily available resources. By mo- bilising more human resources scientists are able to analyse results from previous studies and map out the next stages of the process simultaneously, further increasing the speed. While there is still some cause for concern regarding the speed at which the vaccine has been produced it would allow a global push towards herd immunity. This is a vital step in returning to the normality of before the pandemic.

Teddies Talks Biology I Issue 9 I June 2021

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