When the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines were launched with mRNA technology, everyone wondered exactly what that meant. Now, other vaccines are on the horizon in the United States – some are already authorized for use in other countries – with different and sometimes more traditional technologies behind them.
The end result is as follows: each type of Covid-19 vaccine that has been developed or is being developed – mRNA, vector and protein subunit – has its own way of doing things. But they all have one thing in common. “Each vaccine works by stimulating an antibody-mediated immune response to attack the virus that causes COVID-19,” says Jay W. Lee, MD, MPH, a family doctor in Orange County, California.
All vaccines take you to the same place – they prepare your immune system to protect you from Covid. But exactly how does each vaccination work? Here is a snapshot:
mRNA vaccine
Vaccines that use this: Pfizer, Modern
How it works: The messenger mRNA or RNA can be labeled as the city’s latest vaccine, which is true, but, as we reported earlier, the technology around it is not entirely unknown, as mRNA research has been underway since the 1990s. This type of vaccine injects instructions, through a genetic code, that tell the body how to make a certain protein essential to block the virus. “The mRNA vaccines instruct our cells to recognize COVID-19 and produce a harmless” peak “protein,” explains Dr. Lee. These proteins train your immune system to recognize the virus and make antibodies to attack it, if it gets to your body. The instructions disappear quickly, but your immune system remains strengthened.
Vector vaccine
Vaccines that use this: Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca (not yet available in the USA)
How it works: Vector vaccines are made from a modified version of a live virus, says Dr. Lee. These harmless viruses – in this case, an adenovirus, which is a version of the common cold – are sent to your body containing a manual of instructions that instruct cells to produce a spiny protein; a harmless part of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (which causes Covid-19). Vector vaccines will not provide Covid-19. Your body begins to make antibodies against this, so that if the actual peak of the protein appears in the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, the antibodies will attack you and ultimately help defend your body. If you have received an MMR vaccine (measles, mumps and rubella) or chicken pox, they work in a similar way.
Protein subunit vaccine
Vaccines that use this: Novavax (still in clinical trials)
How it works: This is what is currently used in the hepatitis V vaccine and one of the herpes zoster vaccines (Shingrix). Protein subunit vaccines are a bit like vector vaccines, but instead of using a different virus to send the genetic message, they “contain harmless bits of the virus that causes Covid-19, but not the entire virus,” says Dr. Lee. Once these parts or subunits, which can be things like the germ protein, sugar or a wrapper around the germ known as a capsid, enter the body, our immune system recognizes that they are foreign and promotes production of antibodies, which in turn fights the virus.
What kind of vaccine is the flu vaccine?
As we are in the middle of the flu season (it peaks this month, but it will last until May), you may also be wondering where the flu shot fits into all of this. The injected version (there is also a nasal spray) uses an inactivated virus or a single flu virus protein and essentially does the same thing as the Covid-19 vaccines mentioned above: it presents parts of different flu viruses to your body. This puts your immune system on the defensive to help rid your body of this foreign substance. Antibodies are produced and then provide protection along the line. What is complicated about the effectiveness of the flu vaccine is that it varies from season to season because there are different types of viruses that circulate each year. Therefore, medical experts never know exactly what will hit us and are often making highly educated assumptions.
The most important lesson of all this? Protection against Covid-19 is critical. All of these types of vaccines are just different ways for your body to protect you.
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