if the coveted vaccines were video game
characters what would their stats be
let's take a look effectiveness a lot of
figures have been banded about
but all of them have been based on trial
data and it's really hard to compare
like for like
fisa biontech says its vaccine is up to
95
effective after two doses the moderna
vaccine is said to be nearly 95
effective while the oxford astrazeneca
one is between 62
and 90 effective this 62 figure may
sound lower but
no one who received the oxford vaccine
during trials was hospitalized
or became seriously ill with covid
basically they all work
otherwise they wouldn't have been
approved price countries don't like to
say how much they're paying for each
vaccine
because the information is commercially
sensitive but it's thought the uk
paid 15 pounds for each dose of the
pfizer vaccine
25 pounds for each dose of the modern
vaccine
but only three pounds for each dose of
the oxford one
in places like the uk the vaccine is
free to anyone who wants it
but these governments still have to pay
a lot of money to these companies
so they'd rather it was cheaper how
they're made
the pfizer and moderna ones are rna
vaccines made up of tiny fragments of
the viruses genetic code surrounded by a
bubble of fat
when it's in the body it starts to
create the spike protein of the
coronavirus
the body recognizes this is happening
and makes antibodies
and t cells to fight the virus off next
time the person encounters the virus for
real
they've already got everything they need
but the oxford vaccine uses a different
approach
they've taken a version of the common
cold virus that used to infect
chimpanzees
altered it so it doesn't infect people
and then added a bit of the genetic code
of cova-19
now once these blueprints are inside the
body they start producing the
coronaviruses spike protein
the immune system recognizes this and
acts storage and transport
the pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at
minus 70 degrees celsius
sent out in special boxes surrounded by
dry ice to freezer farms
where it can be kept for up to six
months it can then be stored in a normal
fridge
for up to five days before being given
to people it's a similar process with
moderna but that vaccine only needs to
be kept in a regular freezer
so at around minus 20 degrees celsius
the oxford vaccine though only needs to
be kept in a normal fridge
which means it's easier and cheaper to
move around than the other two
but the truth is when it comes to
vaccines they're not up against each
other
they're all going to play key roles when
it comes to ending this pandemic
you