News

Hammaker: How the COVID-19 vaccine works

WATCH VIDEO >

At Vail Health this week, we received our first shipment of the Pfizer mRNA vaccine, and after it is approved by the FDA with an Emergency Use Authorization, we expect to receive the Moderna mRNA vaccine in the coming weeks.

While the vaccine is new and has been produced quickly, mRNA technology has been around for many years. The vaccine essentially takes a piece messenger RNA from the viral cell and causes our bodies to produce the protein that triggers the immune response and antibodies to ward off infection.

An mRNA vaccine does not actually contain the virus itself. An analogy is to think of it as an email sent to the muscle cells at the injection site that shows what a piece of viral protein looks like and then — like a Snapchat message — it disappears. Our bodies will develop an immune response to kill the viral protein and remember how to recognize it in the future. It is an amazing technology and a breakthrough in modern medicine.

Read the full article at VailDaily.com >