Hi, friends!
This video is going to be a little different than our regular biology content videos.
We are so honored to be able to interview Lieutenant Joshua Wong, of the US Public
Health Service.
Lieutenant Joshua Wong is a CDC disease detective in the epidemic intelligence service.
You can read more about him and his work in the video description.
Before we start, as we’ve mentioned in our vaccine video from a few years back, vaccines
are critical to help protect us against many diseases.
Diseases like Polio, Tetanus, Rubella, Mumps, Diphtheria – I could go on- you may not
hear their names as often because vaccines protect against those diseases as well as
many others.
We spent most of last year, 2020, in a global pandemic with COVID-19 and in 2021, we are
still dealing with this disease.
But now, enter the COVID-19 vaccines.
We’ve noticed, especially this past year, that social media can be used for so much
good.
But unfortunately, it can also be used to spread misinformation.
We think misinformation, and the resulting fear from misinformation, tends to spread
when people don’t fully understand something.
We hope to get an understanding of the COVID-19 vaccines specifically.
Lieutenant Joshua Wong, thank you so much for being here virtually and thank you for
the generosity of your time.
We have a few questions that we’d like to ask that we think our viewers would be curious
to know.
And Petunia, our illustrator, would like to illustrate those responses as well in her
illustration style.
So as of the beginning of 2021, there are two vaccines from two different manufacturers
currently available in the United States that use mRNA.
Can you tell us generally how mRNA vaccines work?
Absolutely.
So, messenger RNA vaccines, also called mRNA vaccines, are some of the first COVID-19 vaccines
authorized for use in the United States.
mRNA vaccines are a new type of vaccine to protect against infectious diseases.
To trigger an immune response, many vaccines put a weakened or inactivated germ into our
bodies.
But not mRNA vaccines.
Instead, they teach our cells how to make a protein or even just a piece of a protein
that triggers an immune response inside of our bodies.
That immune response, which produces antibodies, is what protects us from getting infected
if the real virus enters our bodies.
The mRNA vaccines cannot give you COVID-19, and they do not affect or interact with your
DNA in any way.
COVID-19 mRNA vaccines give instructions for our cells to make a harmless piece of protein
called the spike protein.
The spike protein is found on the surface of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Your immune system sees the spike protein, and it recognizes that the protein doesn’t
belong there.
Your immune system will start building an immune response and making antibodies.
These antibodies then remember how to fight the virus if they see these spike proteins
again.
At the end of the process, our bodies have learned how to protect against future infection,
like it would in a natural infection against COVID-19.
The benefit of mRNA vaccines, like all vaccines, is that those vaccinated gain this protection
without ever having to risk the serious consequences of getting sick with COVID-19.
And for our viewers, we did link a page in the video details to the CDC that also shows
the status of other COVID-19 vaccine types that are, at the time of this interview, currently
in phase 3 clinical trials in the United States- including one that uses a protein subunit and one that
uses a non-replicating vector.
You can view this page to stay up to date.
My second question: there are a lot of people on social media that post they are hesitant
to get the vaccine, because they worry it hasn’t been tested long enough or well enough.
How would you respond to that concern?
So, vaccination is a critical tool to stop the pandemic, and the whole world needs safe
and effective vaccines.
We do understand that some people may be concerned about getting vaccinated.
However, we want to assure you that even though COVID-19 vaccines were developed and manufactured
relatively quickly, they’re held at the same or even higher safety and efficacy standards
required for these vaccines.
The US vaccine safety system makes sure that all vaccines are as safe and effective as
possible.
The FDA set rigorous standards for COVID-19 clinical trials.
If the FDA determines that a vaccine has met those safety and effectiveness standards,
they will issue an emergency-use authorization or an EUA.
After the FDA issues an EUA, the advisory committee on immunization practices meets
to review all available data and make a recommendation.
Some of the data they review are who is receiving each vaccine, how different groups respond
to the vaccine, and side effects of each vaccine.
CDC continues to assess the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines even after they are approved
or authorized.
These real-world assessments compare groups of people who do and don’t get vaccinated
and people who do and don’t get COVID-19.
This assesses how well COVID-19 vaccines are working to protect people.
Tens of millions of people in the US have received COVID-19 vaccines, and once they
have been vaccinated, we have safety monitoring systems in place such as V-safe, CDC’s smartphone-based
after vaccination health checker.
We know there is an emphasis on vaccinating as many people as possible, not just those
who may have more risk factors.
Why is it important to have as many people vaccinated as possible?
COVID-19 can have serious, life-threatening complications, and there is no way to know
how COVID-19 is going to affect you.
If you do get sick, you can spread the disease to friends, family, and others around you.
Based on the evidence from critical trials, both vaccines currently available in the United
States are over 90% effective at preventing COVID-19.
Based on what we know about vaccines for other diseases and early data from clinical trials,
experts believe that getting a COVID-19 vaccine may also help keep you from getting seriously
ill and being hospitalized even if you do get COVID-19.
Wearing masks and social distancing help reduce your chance of being exposed to the virus
or spreading it to others, but these measures are not enough.
Vaccines will work with your immune system so it will be ready to fight the virus if
you're exposed.
Getting vaccinated yourself may also protect people around you, particularly people with
increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19.
The combination of getting vaccinated and following CDC’s recommendations to protect
yourself and others will offer the best protection from COVID-19.
Stopping a pandemic requires using all the tools that we have available.
As experts learn more about how COVID-19 vaccination may help reduce spread of the disease, CDC
will continue to update the recommendations to protect communities using the latest science.
A reminder to our viewers: We’ve talked in our videos before that viruses can mutate.
For example, with the influenza vaccine – also known as the flu vaccine- you have to get
a different type of flu vaccine each year due to how these strains change annually.
This leads to our fourth question.
We’ve been hearing about different variants of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Can you tell us about these variants?
So viruses constantly change through mutation
and new variants of a virus are expected to occur over time.
Sometimes, new variants emerge and disappear.
Other times, new variants emerge and persist.
Multiple variants of the virus that cause COVID-19 have been documented in the United
States and globally during this pandemic.
The virus that causes COVID-19 is a type of coronavirus named for the crown-like spikes
on their surfaces.
Scientists monitor changes in the virus to understand how it spreads and what happens
to people who are infected with it.
Multiple COVID-19 variants are circulating globally.
Several new variants emerged in the fall of 2020.
Most notably, B.1.1.7, which emerged in the UK, has been detected in numerous countries
around the world, including the United States.
We know that this variant is associated with increased transmissibility.
At the moment, we have found no evidence to suggest that the variant has any impact on
the severity of disease or vaccine efficacy.
Also, B.1.351, which emerged in South Africa, has been detected in multiple countries.
This variant was reported in the US at the end of January 2021.
Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that this variant has any impact on disease
severity.
Lastly, P.1 which first emerged in Brazil, was detected in the US at the end of January
2021.
There's evidence to suggest that some of these variants’ mutations may cause the
virus to be easier to spread and change how your body remembers the virus.
Scientists are working to learn more about these variants to better understand how easily
they might be transmitted and the effectiveness of currently authorized vaccines against them.
Do you think in time, the vaccine approach will be similar to the flu vaccine with an
updated formula to respond to different COVID-19 variants?
Information about these variants is rapidly emerging.
Scientists are working to learn more about whether currently available vaccines will
protect people against them.
So far, studies suggest that antibodies generated through vaccination with currently authorized
vaccines recognize these variants.
This is being closely investigated and more studies are underway.
Thank you again so much, Lieutenant Joshua Wong, for your time and sharing your expertise!
Thanks so much for inviting me.
I’m glad that I can share a little about what we’re doing here at CDC.
Well, that’s it for the Amoeba Sisters, and we remind you to stay curious!