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COVID19 - VACCINES

THE IMMUNE SYSTEM the Body’s Defense Against Infection

To understand how COVID-19 vaccines work, it helps to first look at how our bodies fight sickness . When germs, such as the virus that causes COVID-19, invade our bodies, they attack and multiply. This invasion, called an infection, is what cause sickness.

Our immune system uses several tools to fight infection. Blood contains red cells, which carry oxygen to tissues and organs, and white or immune cells, which fight infection.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF WHITE BLOOD CELLS fight infection in different ways:

Macrophages

T-lymphocytes

white blood cells that suckdown and digest germs and dead or dying cells

are another type of defensive white blood cell

They attack cells in the body that have already been infected.

The macrophages leave behind parts of the invading germs, called “antigens”. The body identifies antigens as dangerous and stimulates antibodies to attack them.

B-lymphocytes

B-lymphocytes

defensive white blood cells

They produce antibodies that attack the pieces of the virus left behind by the macrophages

The first time a person is infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, it can take Many days or weeks for their body to make and use all the germ-fighting tools needed to get over the infection. After the infection, the person’s immune system remembers what it learned about how to protect the body against that disease.

The body keeps a few T-lymphocytes, called “memory cells”, that go into action quickly if the body encounters the same virus again. When the familiar antigens are detected, B-lymphocytes produce antibodies to attack them. Experts are still learning how long these memory cells protect a person against the virus that causes COVID-19.

How COVID-19 Vaccines Work?

COVID-19 vaccines help our bodies develop immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19 without us having to get the sikness. Different types of vaccines work in different ways to offer protection. But with all types of vaccines, the body is left with a supply of “memory” T-lymphocytes as well as B-lymphocytes that will remember how to fight that virus in the future. It typically takes a few weeks after vaccination for the body to produce T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes.

Therefore, it is possible that a person could be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 just before or just after vaccination and then get sick because the vaccine did not have enough time to provide protection. Sometimes after vaccination, the process of building immunity can cause symptoms, such as fever. These symptoms are normal and are signs that the body is building immunity.

THE TWO MOST USED TYPES OF VACCINES

mRNA-Vaccines

MRNA vaccines give instructions to the cells in your body to make the "spike protein", a small innocuous protein that is unique to the virus.

After our cells make copies of "spike protein" , they destroy the genetic material from the vaccine. Our bodies recognize that the protein should not be there and build T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes

T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes will remember how to fight the virus that causes COVID-19 if we are infected in the future.

Vector Vaccines

contain a modified version of a different virus than the one that causes COVID-19. Inside the shell of the modified virus, there is material from the virus that causes COVID-19. This is called a “viral vector.” Once the viral vector is inside our cells, the genetic material gives cells instructions to make a protein that is unique to the virus that causes COVID-19. Using these instructions, our cells make copies of the protein. This prompts our bodies to build T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes that will remember how to fight that virus if we are infected in the future

COVID-19 ONE or TWO Shot

ONE SHOT

TWO SHOTS

If you get a COVID-19 vaccine that requires one shot, you are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after your shot. Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 vaccine only requires one shot.

If you get a COVID-19 vaccine that requires two shots, you are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after your second shot. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines require two shots.

If it has been less than two weeks since your shot, or if you still need to get your second shot, you are NOT fully protected. Keep taking all prevention steps until you are fully vaccinated (two weeks after your final shot).

THANK YOU!

Getting vaccinated and following recommendations to protect yourself and others will offer the best protection from COVID-19.

Valentina Hering