Vaccination of the population is progressing, perhaps not at the rate imposed by the extent of the problem, but it is progressing and, in fact, in several countries is approaching the percentage that ensures public health and the health of each individual, the most immediate recovery of the economy and the “return to normalcy”.
However, this percentage that is left to carry out “herd immunity” seems more difficult. This is exactly where the most information is needed, the scientific information based on facts “.
Fact 1: The only eradication of disease in human history was done through vaccination and, in fact, with the first vaccine in the history of medicine (although he had to give similar but clearly more of the battles that anti-COVID vaccines are currently fighting with their deniers).
This was the smallpox vaccine that won the “war” on the disease, resulting in its eradication, ie its complete eradication worldwide in 1980. It is worth noting that the word vaccine comes from the Latin word vacca (cow) hence the specific vaccination in our country prevailed under the name vaccination. And how is the cow involved in the story? The father of this first vaccine, the British physician Edward Jenner, observed that women who milked cows had blisters on their hands and did not get smallpox, a time when smallpox was, by analogy, what we now call a pandemic. E. Jenner, got fluid from the bubbles and the first vaccine was a fact. The end of the 20th century also marked the end of the disease that by then had killed 10% of the population in the 19th century and 300-500 million people in the 20th century.
Fact 2: The first vaccine was followed by many other successful vaccines such as rabies, plague, diphtheria, pertussis, tuberculosis, polio, tetanus with the result that either these diseases are “unknown words”, or they are of limited impact and do not threaten human life as old.
Fact 3: From the very first vaccine there were reactions, which although they did not have the “help” of the universality of information were powerful and predictable. Nevertheless, the vaccines prevailed thanks to their effectiveness. Today, according to the World Health Organization, they prevent 100,000,000 diseases worldwide, prevent 2,500,000 deaths, provide long-term protection against many, many diseases, and help health systems around the world have adequate resources to the treatment of diseases for which there are no vaccines (and all this without counting the vaccination numbers against SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19.
Fact 4: A lot has changed since the time of the first vaccine. New diseases have emerged, old diseases have become more dangerous, life-threatening diseases have multiplied, viruses have mutated and developed more resistant strains, germs have developed antibiotic resistance. The positive experience of vaccinations has shown that vaccines could be the solution for diseases such as AIDS, cancer, malaria or even provide better solutions than those that have been given so far for diseases such as e.g. tuberculosis. This concept created the favorable research and financial framework which mathematically leads to great scientific successes.
Fact 5: The vaccine-friendly research and funding framework has enabled scientists to design and test new types of vaccines in the laboratory, among these types were genome vaccines (DNA vaccines, mRNA vaccines) and recombinant vector vaccines. Each of these vaccines was “good in theory” but in practice had to deal with various problems that had to be solved before it could be tested in humans.
Fact 6: The “central idea” of all vaccines (classical and genomic), their “mechanism”, is the introduction of protein of the virus or bacterium in the human body for the purpose of “training” our immune system, “recording” it and creating antibodies that act as a shield in case of infection by the germ (virus or bacterium) against which protection is sought. Result: the most significant reduction in the likelihood of disease (many people do not get sick) or the milder disease (some people will get sick but much less).
Fact 7: The mRNA vaccines, first published in 1990 in the prestigious scientific journal Science Before they became the coronavirus of choice vaccines, they had to solve a range of problems ranging from biological (efficient introduction of mRNA into the recipient cell) to technical (maintenance of “fragile” mRNA). These problems were solved progressively, with the result that the laboratories are now ready in 2020 to face the first “challenge”.
Fact 8: mRNA vaccines do NOT introduce the SARS-CoV-2 virus or any part of it into the body. They do NOT transmit infectious disease and do NOT bind to the recipient genome. They introduce a coded “instruction” to create a protein like the one at the tip of the virus, the tool that helps it attach to the cell. This “artificial” spike becomes the antigen, the substance that causes the production of antibodies, which are some of the “killer” molecules of the body. When the real virus infects our body, these molecules will now be there to prevent the disease. As for the “messenger”, the codified directive? She becomes the first victim of the process that triggers. It is destroyed.
Fact 9: MRNA vaccines have also benefited from the tremendous advances in computer technology. It was this technology that “cut a path”, “cut time” and gave science the necessary data, which allowed it to combine the conclusions of a very large number of clinical studies from around the world and apply them. It was this technology that analyzed and communicated the SARS-CoV-2 genome, allowing science to demonstrate the rapid reflexes required by the pandemic: One week after the announcement of the virus genome, a vaccine prototype had been produced and within a month clinical tests.
Writes:
Dr. Petros Kanellopoulos, Specialist Physician, Chairman of the COVID-19 Committee of the Metropolitan Hospital
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