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mrna vaccines for covid19
vaccines are substances that protect you
from harmful diseases
most vaccines contain parts of weakened
or dead germs that trigger your immune
system to fight the disease
but mrna vaccines for covid19 are
different
they contain a substance called mrna
that teaches your cells how to make a
protein that triggers an immune response
in order to understand how these
vaccines work it's important to know
what mrna is and how it normally makes
proteins your body needs
most cells in your body have a command
center inside them called the nucleus
it contains genetic material called dna
that consists of instructions for
building and maintaining your body
proteins are one of the building blocks
of your body
when a new body protein needs to be
built instructions for building it are
copied from your cell's dna and
converted into a message called
messenger rna or mrna
then the mrna travels out of the nucleus
to a protein-building machine in your
cell called a ribosome
as the ribosome reads the message from
the mrna it builds the protein your body
needs
mrna vaccines take advantage of this
process to help give you immunity to
covet 19.
each vaccine contains special mrna that
provides instructions for your cells to
build a harmless piece of the virus
called the spike protein
the spike protein is found on the
surface of the sars cov2 coronavirus
that causes covet 19.
each piece of the mrna from the vaccine
is wrapped in a protective coating
the vaccine is given as a shot in the
upper arm
in the body the mrna particles enter
your cells
once inside the cell the mrna travels to
a ribosome
using the mrna from the vaccine the
ribosome makes only a piece of the spike
protein from the virus
after making the piece of the spike
protein your cell destroys the mrna from
the vaccine
it's important to know that the mrna
from the vaccine never enters the cell's
nucleus or changes its dna in any way
next your cell presents the piece of the
spike protein on its surface
this allows your immune cells to detect
the protein and recognize that it
doesn't belong there
as a result your immune cells begin
making antibodies as part of an immune
response to the virus
in the future if you catch the virus the
antibodies recognize and attach to the
spike protein pieces on infected cells
and the spike proteins on the virus
this marks them for immediate
destruction by other immune cells
like all vaccines the benefit of these
mrna vaccines is that they give
vaccinated people protection from the
virus without having to get sick with
covet 19.
most mrna vaccines for covet 19 require
you to get a second shot within a few
weeks
sometime after getting the vaccine you
may have symptoms such as a fever this
is normal it means the vaccine is
working to make you immune to the virus
vaccines protect you your family and
your community from diseases that can be
dangerous or even deadly
for up-to-date information about
vaccines for covet-19 visit the centers
for disease control and prevention
website at cdc.gov