Amina Khan
Photo by Natalyia Vaitkevich
In early 2020 scientists began researching a vaccine for COVID-19 which has affected more than 22 million people in the U.S causing more than 370,000 deaths and more than 100 million cases worldwide. The pandemic has affected not only people’s health, but also the economy and livelihood of so many around the world as jobs are lost and germs are spread.
This was until December 2nd when a vaccine was made by Pfizer, a German/Turkish BioNTech company, specifically by scientists Ugar Sahin and Ozlem Tureci. They created a COVID-19 vaccine that uses mRNA to make cells produce proteins that look like the virus, thus making our bodies fight what it thinks is the virus, protecting us from any future attack from COVID-19. The research used to develop the vaccine did not only start when the pandemic began, but years ago when scientists started using mRNA and RNA to fight other illnesses that affected the respiratory system.
The vaccine has to go through four stages of testing to be able to be deemed safe for everyone. The first stage is testing the vaccine on animals such as hamsters and mice who show similar symptoms of COVID-19 to humans. The second stage is giving the vaccine to a small number of human volunteers to see their reactions and how they are affected. Once the vaccine is approved, scientists move on to stage three where they give the vaccine to more people but split into different groups to compare how each group is doing, and analyze the data they receive. Lastly, the fourth stage is when scientists give the vaccine to thousands of people and start to vaccinate others and see the outcome worldwide in their attempt to help save millions.
Overall, scientists hope the vaccine will save lives and prevent another outbreak from occurring. They will go down in history as those who worked hard to bring relief to millions and hopefully stop the COVID-19 outbreak from getting worse. This is why it is important for everyone to follow COVID safety rules, such as wearing a mask and staying six feet apart, so that we may one day see a pandemic-free nation!
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