[DEC] Types of Vaccines

Question 1

Inactivated vaccine?

Answer 1

These are vaccines made by using particles of the Covid-19 virus that were killed, making them unable to infect or replicate. Injecting particular doses of these particles serves to build immunity by helping the body create antibodies against the dead virus.

Question 2

Non-replicating viral vector vaccine?

Answer 2

It uses a weakened, genetically modified version of a different virus to carry the Covid-19 spike protein.

Question 3

What is spike protein?

Answer 3

• It is a protein that protrudes from the surface of a coronavirus, like the spikes of a crown or corona hence called ‘coronavirus’.
• In the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, it is the spike protein that initiates the process of infection in a human cell.
• It attaches itself to a human enzyme, called the ACE2 receptor, before going on to enter the cell and make multiple copies of itself.

Question 4

Image of spike protein?

Answer 4

https://blog.nextias.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/bps_bioscience_coronavirus_structure-768x581.jpg

Question 5

Protein subunit vaccine?

Answer 5

This vaccine uses a part of the virus to build an immune response in a targeted fashion. In this case, the part of the virus being targeted would be the spike protein.

Question 6

RNA vaccine?

Answer 6

Such vaccines use the messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules that tell cells what proteins to build. The mRNA, in this case, is coded to tell the cells to recreate the spike protein. Once it is injected, the cells will use the mRNA’s instructions, creating copies of the spike protein, which in turn is expected to prompt the immune cells to create antibodies to fight it.

Question 7

DNA Vaccine?

Answer 7

These vaccines use genetically engineered DNA molecules that, again, are coded with the antigen against which the immune response is to be built.