Vaccines contain inactive or weak parts of the organism that causes the disease or the genetic code that would create the same response and stimulate the immune system. This leads the body’s immune system to recognise the foreign body and produce antibodies to learn how to fight it.
The Sinopharm vaccine works by using dead virus particles to expose the body’s immune system to the virus without risking a violent reaction, and works to stimulate the human immune system and form antibodies to fight the COVID-19 virus.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine uses messenger RNA, a genetic material that human cells read to make proteins. The molecule, called mRNA for short, is fragile and would be broken down into pieces by the human natural enzymes if it were injected directly into the body. To protect their vaccine, Pfizer and BioNTech wrapped the mRNA in oily bubbles made of lipid nanoparticles. In the meantime, both the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine and the Sputnik V vaccine are adenovirus vectored vaccines and both deliver genetic instructions for the cells of the body to produce the spike protein for SARS-CoV-2.
The vaccine can reduce the chances of infection with coronavirus and prevent complications resulting from the virus, but no one has yet been able to determine how long the protection will last, as is the case with all vaccines developed to fight the coronavirus.
The level of antibodies will decrease over the course of months, but the immune system contains special cells called “memory cells” that may retain information about the coronavirus for long periods, up to years. This means that these cells can remember the pathogen in case the infection is encountered again and stimulate the immune system to reproduce the antibodies that fight the virus.
Researchers found out that these cells underwent many cycles of mutations even after recovery and thus were able to produce more effective antibodies than those initially caused by the infection. Additional laboratory tests indicated that these antibodies were also able to identify mutated strains of the virus, such as the South African strain.
By following up on the latest scientific developments on the subject of mutated strains of SARS Covid-2 virus, we find that studies have shown the variation of vaccinations in the degree of their effectiveness with the South African strain, and vaccinations are still effective despite this disparity and therefore it is important to emphasize the importance of taking the vaccine and completing the second dose of these vaccines.