@my_np_jenna and I worked together on this post that goes over the basic concepts of herd immunity and how it relates to COVID-19! 🙌🏼 In a nutshell, herd immunity thresholds are based on the contagiousness of the pathogen in question. This is captured by the reproduction number (R0) of a disease, which estimates the average numberContinue reading “Herd Immunity”
Category Archives: Vaccinology
Immune System X Vaccines
Which immune cells are important when considering immunity? *The slides today are an oversimplification of an intricate and nuanced system. Your body is built to defend against invaders. After the physical barrier of your skin/mucosal lining, your innate system is the first to kick in. This system is fast and ready to go before anythingContinue reading “Immune System X Vaccines”
Cells X Vaccines
How exactly are cells used in vaccine development? The use of cells to develop vaccines can be broken down into two pieces. First, production. Second, testing. Biologics, things like antibodies and viruses, need to be grown in living organisms by definition. Non-biologics can be produced without cells. Cells are given the instructions forContinue reading “Cells X Vaccines”
Ab Tests X Vaccines
Discussing antibody tests and when to expect a positive result! When infected naturally with SARS-CoV-2, your body is exposed to all the viral proteins and will generally make antibodies against the two most immunogenic proteins – the Spike (S) protein and the Nucleocapsid (N) protein. In this case, any serology (antibody) test designed toContinue reading “Ab Tests X Vaccines”
J&J COVID-19 Vaccine
The FDA meets later this week to review the safety and efficacy of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine. If approved for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) it will be the 3rd distributed vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 in the U.S . I am so excited to share this collaborative post with Dr. Jesse O’Shea, MD (@jesseosheamd).Continue reading “J&J COVID-19 Vaccine”
Route of Administration
Route of Administration! The way a drug/therapeutic enters your body. I thought it would be useful to go over some of the basics so we all have a better understanding of why certain drugs are injected into our body and why others are given in pill form. It all has to do with what theContinue reading “Route of Administration”
What is an Adjuvant?
Adjuvants! These are substances added to vaccines (and other drugs whose goal is to elicit an immune response) to enhance the immune response. By adding these to the formulation, you may reduce the required overall dose of the vaccine or simply increased the efficacy. Other times an adjuvant isn’t included or doesn’t benefit the system.Continue reading “What is an Adjuvant?”
Reactogenicity
The inflammatory effects that a vaccine has on the body, shortly after injection, and the physical manifestation of that inflammation, is called it’s reactogenicity. A vaccine that makes a larger proportion of recipients feel acutely under the weather (for no more than 24-48 hours), or more intensely under the weather than another, is more reactogenic.Continue reading “Reactogenicity”
How do the Moderna and Pfizer mRNA-based vaccines work?
Only fair I make a post about our two leading mRNA-based COVID vaccines despite joining a little late to the game. Although, these two companies did just publish their Phase III data in the NEJM just this week so I’m going to say I’m right on time 👍🏼 In the coming weeks/months more of theContinue reading “How do the Moderna and Pfizer mRNA-based vaccines work?”
How does the Oxford/AstraZeneca Vaccine Work?
Lots of talk surrounding the recent EUA approval of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID vaccine in the UK! Phase III trials are still underway in the US. ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 delivers the DNA sequence encoding the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein inside an Adenovirus capsid that has been stripped of its ability to replicate. Study data from Brazil/South Africa/UK showsContinue reading “How does the Oxford/AstraZeneca Vaccine Work?”