- [Presenter] A COVID vaccine is coming for you.
What should you expect?
First, the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.
These are furthest along and both are mRNA vaccines
- [Georges] Messenger RNA is a little piece
of genetic material.
It has the blueprint for creating proteins.
And so in this case
what they've done is they've taken a part
of the messenger RNA, that codes for the little spiky thing
on top of the virus.
The spike protein is the part
of the virus that causes the best immune response.
They put it based on a little piece of fat.
They inject it in your body.
Your machinery makes the spike protein
and then your body recognizes that spike protein is foreign
and it creates an immune response to it
and helps destroy viruses.
- [Presenter] Now, RNA is fragile and unstable.
- It just falls apart in warm temperatures.
- [Presenter] Which means these vaccines must be transported
at cold temperatures
for Pfizer that's -94 Fahrenheit.
And that requires dry ice in the packaging
and an entire ultra cold chain with special freezers
all along their journey.
In-box digital data loggers track the temperature.
So when the box is opened
the user will know if the vaccine ever got too warm
which could make it ineffective.
- [Georges] But it's moving it from a storage bin
to a clinic or a doctor's office.
Well, we only have refrigerators
and we really generally don't have the ability
to keep things very very cold.
So part of the challenges is making sure
that we get the right number
of doses to the right practice at the right time.
- [Presenter] The Moderna vaccine
is more stable than Pfizer's.
So standard refrigeration during transport
will do just fine.
Both mRNA vaccines will require a double dose
separated by three to four weeks.
For the vaccine to work properly
you need both shots.
There are other vaccine contenders in the works too.
If the ones from Johnson and Johnson
and Oxford AstraZeneca get approved
they'll require normal refrigeration during transport.
They rely on a different approach.
Instead of RNA
the vaccines use DNA,
that codes for the spike protein
which is inserted not into a bubble of fat or lipid,
but into a common kind of virus called an adenovirus.
- Think of the adenovirus as a delivery virus
that actually delivers it into your body cells.
That's not lethal.
It doesn't also make you sick.
It's just another way of getting it into your body.
- [Presenter] It's important to mention
that all these vaccines can cause side effects.
In trials for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines,
some people reported severe short-term side effects.
Severe fever, and fewer than 2% of participants
but higher numbers for other side effects.
- [Georges] For some people, that first shot
puts them down for 24 hours.
And so they just feel really terrible.
- When we think about communicating the side effects
of the COVID vaccine,
it is going to be really important
to be absolutely transparent.
- [Georges] Well, it's your body's immune response.
It tells you that it's working,
your body's sending the antibodies to that spot
and it causes a huge amount of inflammation.
- [Presenter] For the mRNA vaccines
it may be that the lipid bubble
is what sets off the side effects.
- [Georges] And people are gonna have to be encouraged
to come back for their second shot
so that they're fully protected.
Making a vaccine and then getting shots in the arms
are two different things.
- [Presenter] Vaccinating the better part
of an entire country
is a massive logistical undertaking.
- We have a foundation,
a system that works
but it needs to be amplified and ramped up.
We're also introducing the department
of defense and the military to work
in collaboration with this ongoing system.
And that has never been tried before.
- We also have to be transparent
about who is going to get the vaccine first, why
and then how it will be phased out
across the other population.
- [Presenter] Millions of people will be prioritized
based on risk level and exposure.
The first wave of vaccines will likely
go to people in long-term care facilities
like nursing homes and frontline healthcare workers.
- [Abigail] The doctors, the nurses, the MAs,
those that we need to provide
the necessary care and testing.
- [Howard] Dedicating themselves in such a heroic fashion
24/7 to be as healthy as possible.
So they can keep caring for all of us
and get us through this pandemic.
- [Presenter] There's another high priority group.
- [Georges] There was a population of people
that are at risk.
People with chronic diseases, heart disease, lung disease,
kidney disease, diabetes...
- [Presenter] Some of these conditions
are inherited, but for many
they're a result of systemic racial and social inequities.
- Particularly communities of color,
African-American, native American and Latin X individuals.
They're much more likely to be exposed to the virus
and get sick than non-Hispanic whites.
- And so a lot of repair work
is going to need to be done
to rebuild the trust that these vaccines
these treatments are built on the best science available
so that there is vaccine uptake in communities
who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
Many of them are very distrustful.
In the population I serve,
American Indians and Alaska natives
are not going to take that vaccine
because of the extreme hesitancy that exists.
- Taking this vaccine acceptance effort
our high priority is absolutely critical
for the future public health of our country.
- [Presenter] As the vaccines course through our communities
it's worth stating, they're not an instant fix.
It's estimated to take one to two weeks
after getting the second shot
for your immune system to have produced the antibodies
you need to be protected from COVID-19.
- No vaccine is 100% effective.
- We're going to need to ensure
that there are proper public health safety precautions
that are also continued such as masking,
such as social distancing,
hand-washing, all of those things
need to be continued to be communicated--
- [Presenter] We also don't know yet
if any of the vaccines actually stop you
from getting infected.
So far, we just know
that they can prevent people from getting sick
but it's possible
that people could still catch the Corona virus
and be able to spread it to others
even if they've been vaccinated.
The vaccines will take time to roll out.
And they haven't even been tested on certain populations yet
like pregnant women and children.
- [Georges] Which is our practice.
We do the adults first, before we put our kids at risk
their bodies are developing different.
Their immune systems function differently.
- [Presenter] There's a lot we don't yet know
about these vaccines
like how long they'll last.
But one thing is certain,
the fact that we have working vaccines
a mere year into this pandemic is a mighty achievement.
- [Georges] So we should think of this as our moonshot
in terms of what we've done to try to create vaccines.
It's an amazing story.
And we should think of it as an amazing success.