What is this new Coronavirus vaccine?

During the Coronavirus outbreak, scientists have been announcing to the public to social distance, quarantine themselves, and wear a mask to stop the spread. While the pandemic continues to get worse and worse throughout the country, a vaccine just may have been found for good use.
Since January, a vaccine has been in the works by BioNTech. The company and Pfizer decided to work together and created a vaccine that is more than 90% effective for preventing the Coronavirus. Most vaccines work by injecting a weakened version of the virus into the body and making your body grow immune to it, resulting in a strengthened immune system to fight against it, but this new Coronavirus vaccine consists of mRNA that helps to stimulate the immune system for producing antibodies that help fight the virus.
Walter Isaacson, an author and also a participant in the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine trial, says to MSNBC, “…Messenger RNA is just the main thing that RNA does in our body… everybody loves DNA, it’s sort of a famous brother in the pair. But RNA is a sibling that actually does the work…” He says,“[the messenger RNA] says ‘build this protein.’”
According to Pfizer, 94 of the 43,538 participants in this trial had the Coronavirus, but many of the participants who had the illness were not vaccinated. Another company Moderna has made a vaccine that’s even more effective than Pfizer’s/BioNTech’s, but there hasn’t been enough talk about it to gather current information.
There haven’t been any safety concerns regarding either of the companies vaccines, but Pfizer is the best source to look at for updates on their trials and safety warnings. So stay calm, because so far with the effectiveness of this vaccine, things are looking good for us. In fact, the chief executive of BioNTech told the New York Times, “It could be the beginning of the end of the Covid era.”
This vaccine has been bringing much more knowledge to the table for scientists, and it’s a great start to future vaccines. Unfortunately, there will always be more viruses that will appear, but with the advancement of this first human-approved genetic vaccine, it will be easier to create a new vaccine in the snap of a finger.
“It can be reprogrammed every time a new virus comes along,” told Walter Isaacson to MSNBC.
He states that even an average college student in a lab can recode to find a new vaccine using these advances in technology towards the vaccine for the Coronavirus.
Researchers still need more information before letting everyone use the vaccine. It needs to be tested amongst more age groups, as well as reviewed by safety administrations. Commonly asked questions by scientists examining the vaccine are “Does the vaccine prevent people from spreading the virus?” and “How long will the immunity last?” So far, there is no further information about whether or not the vaccine will help stop the spread of COVID-19, and right now wouldn’t be the time to find out, especially when the spread of the virus is becoming worse and worse. Many people claim that the vaccine should last for a few months. When the official vaccine is announced, the CDC recommends it to healthcare workers, people at severe risk with underlying medical conditions, and people above 65 years of age.
To help scientists run future trials and make the coronavirus vaccine more accurate, it’s essential to keep social distancing, wearing your mask correctly when around others, and remembering to wash your hands.