Are We On Track to Have A COVID-19 Vaccine by 2021?

Two vaccine candidates are being pushed to market, but what are they exactly, and how close are we really to having a reliable vaccine? » Subscribe to Seeker! http://bit.ly/subscribeseeker » Watch more Elements! http://bit.ly/ElementsPlaylist » Visit our shop at http://shop.seeker.com Right now, there are more than 160 COVID-19 vaccines in development, but two in particular are making the most headlines; one from Moderna Inc and another from University of Oxford. Once SARS-CoV-2’s entire genome was sequenced in January 2020 and uploaded to a public database for anyone to copy, the race toward a viable vaccine was on. Moderna made headlines early in the pandemic because it was one of the first to take this sequenced genome and combine it with their already developed mRNA technology called mRNA-1273. mRNA, or messenger RNA, is an instruction molecule that instructs a cell on how to use that genetic code. The University of Oxford is taking a different approach. A team is using a weakened and modified version of a chimpanzee adenovirus vaccine vector—basically a harmless virus that causes colds in chimps. Their vaccine, called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (or AZD1222), also uses the genetic code for the coronavirus “spike protein”. But instead of placing it inside an mRNA molecule, the team placed these instructions inside the adenovirus inducing a similar immune response to protect the body from future infections. Find out more about what makes these COVID-19 vaccines so special and different from the others, and how close they are to actually being available for widespread use in this Elements. #covid19 #vaccine #pandemic #health #science #seeker #elements How Fast Can We Make a Coronavirus Vaccine? - https://youtu.be/4wPEQIsybKI Read More: mRNA Vaccines https://www.nature.com/articles/nrd.2017.243 mRNA vaccines represent a promising alternative to conventional vaccine approaches because of their high potency, capacity for rapid development and potential for l