Covid-19 Vaccine

Melanie Wang

With the coronavirus uprising in 2020, scientists quickly spurred a  global corporation vaccine. By December, companies such as BioNTech, Pfizer, and Moderna have distributed vaccines and are looking up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.

On December 11th, 2020, the FDA authorized the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine for emergency use. Companies such as Moderna, BioNTech, Pfizer, and Inovio, have developed a vaccine for Covid-19. Companies started developing the Vaccine mid March and are able to be distributed in December 2020. The Pfizer mRNA vaccine in collaboration with Operation Warp Speed and Pfizer-BioNTech are expected to deliver millions to billions of vaccines in 2021.

Developers in the U.S., U.K, Germany, China, and Russia have been cleared to use for emergency use. The vaccine is only available to healthcare workers and people who are willing to receive it. With the rapid research and development of the vaccine many Americans are concerned that the vaccine was rushed and was not subjected to tests determining possible long term effects. Due to the development of the vaccine in less than a year many Americans are hesitant about receiving the vaccine.  

According to the New York Times and Centers for Disease Control, about 4.8 million people have received the vaccine. The federal government said that it had delivered about 17 million doses to states and federal agencies. According to the C.D.C, 429,066 people in nursing homes or long term care centers had been given the vaccine through the federal program. In Virginia 481,550 doses have been distributed and according to the C.D.C 126.363 doses have been given to the citizens, so 26% of their doses have been used. 

In the Influenza vaccine and many other vaccines they contain disabled versions of the virus and proteins which will immunize our bodies defense system against the infection of a live virus. The Moderna vaccine, Pfizerr and BioTech vaccines use a string of mRNA inside lipid nanoparticle coat. The mRNA encodes a protein (SARS-CoV-2) the mRNa goes into our cells and produces a protein which acts as an antigen towards the virus. The Vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer and BioNtech use mRNA which raises protein preventing the virus within the cell. Pfizer and Moderna’s  vaccine seem to be highly effective. With a 94% rate of preventing the SARS-CoV-2 protein infection.

President Elect Joe Biden received the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine on Monday December 21, 2020 in Delaware. He reported “I’m doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when it’s available to take the vaccine. There’s nothing to worry about.” Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the Nation’s top disease experts received his first dose of Moderna’s Covid-19 Vaccine on December 18th. Dr. Fauci reported in an interview on CBSN “I have a little bit of a sore arm. After the vaccination it was about maybe 6 to 8 hours. I felt absolutely nothing, and then towards the late afternoon I got the soreness in the arm”. House speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Vice President Mike Pence are examples of top U.S. leaders who received the Covid-19 Vaccine December 18. “Thanks to the great work at the National Institutes of Health, and the great and careful work of the FDA and the leadership of our president and Operation Warp Speed, the American people can be confident we have one, and, perhaps within hours, two safe and effective coronavirus vaccines for you and for your family,” said Vice President Mike Pence after he received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.  They were some of the first people in the country to get the vaccine since the FDA approved on December 11th. 

Overall, Companies Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderma have distributed over 4.8 million doses of the vaccine. Due to the high rates of Coronavirus death in the US the companies hope to deliver about 1 billion doses by the end of 2021.