How The Coronavirus Vaccine Can Revolutionize Flu Shots
Doctor Is In by Dr. Adil Manzoor OP/ED
When was the last time you heard someone make a fuss about the flu? Me too! There used to be a time in the not-so-distant past where the flu season used to be the worst medical period in the year. Everyone talking about it and how to lower the number of deaths for the season. That was not the case last year because we were talking about something bigger, something deadlier – the coronavirus.
It’s like when you’re playing a video game, and you ignore the lesser enemies to face the bigger villain. While the flu can most definitely not be written off, it isn’t in the same league as the coronavirus. Consider this, in the 2019-2020 flu season, 22,000 people died because of the flu; in the year before, 34,200 people died from the influenza virus. From last year till today, on the other hand, about 570,000 people have died from the coronavirus. And that’s just in the US.
The reason for the particularly low deaths from the flu last year is because most of the measures we take to prevent the coronavirus can actually prevent the flu. I’m not even talking of medications now. Social distancing, regular hand-washing, use of masks, and many more can offer a level of protection against many respiratory diseases, the flu included.
But we shouldn’t for one minute think this is the end of the flu as we know it. The coronavirus will come and pass, and that’s looking more of a matter of when rather than if. However, there’s still going to be the flu after all of this. The flu, although not as deadly as the coronavirus, still kills people in their thousands, which is simply unacceptable.
Right now, there are flu shots or vaccines. But there’s a significant difference between the flu vaccines and the coronavirus vaccines. While they both serve the same purpose of teaching the body how to respond to a virus before the virus actually enters the body, they do so differently. The coronavirus vaccine employs a new technology, the very first of its kind – mRNA.
Traditional vaccines work by introducing a weakened or dead strain of the virus into the body and letting the body’s immune system deal with it. This way, when the actual live virus comes into the body, the body quickly deals with it. This system is tested and trusted, effectively wiping away many of the serious illnesses to have plagued humanity, like smallpox, polio, and measles. This vaccine technology is what our regular flu shots also employ.
The next question to address then is, ‘if it ain’t broke, why fix it?’ The answer is simple, when there is a chance to save even one more human life, ‘you got to fix it.’ And that’s what the mRNA technology can offer.
mRNA vaccine technology is new but not unknown. Scientists have been studying this vaccine technology for more than 30 years now. With this model, there is no need to introduce the live, weakened, or dead strain of the virus into the body. What is done is to introduce messenger RNA, or mRNA, into the system to synthesize a protein or protein piece of the virus, which is then displayed on the cell surface.
The protein piece or critical piece responsible for the coronavirus is called the ‘spike protein.’ So, for the coronavirus mRNA vaccine, the cell displays the spike protein on its surface after the introduction of mRNA. The body’s immune system quickly recognizes that the protein is a foreigner and attacks it, building an immune response and developing antibodies against it. This will teach the body how to respond when live coronavirus enters the body.
While it all sounds simple, scientists needed decades to figure out how to make the mRNA vaccine fully functional. When the coronavirus first reared its ugly head in late 2019, scientists set out to develop a very effective vaccine using knowledge from mRNA studies.
This new technology, aside from being more effective than the traditional vaccine technology, can also see vaccines developed in a month. For context, the flu vaccine takes roughly six months to develop. There’s more. Scientists have to pick a strain they think will be prevalent before developing the vaccine. When the vaccines are ready for distribution, another strain may be prevalent.
When the first mRNA flu vaccine will be developed is unknown, but many pharmaceutical giants are working on it. It may eventually take years before one is approved, but it’s refreshing to know we’re being proactive for once. Stay safe.
This article was written by Dr. Adil Manzoor DO, a Board Certified Internist & Board Eligible Pediatrician, who works as a Hospitalist, and Emergency Room Physician. He is also the current President of Garden State Street Medicine, a non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to provide free preventive and acute urgent care services for the homeless. He is also the co-founder of his own unique medical practice Mobile Medicine NJ.
References
· https://www.washington post.com/health/2021/04/11/mrna-flu-shots/
· https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines/mrna.html
· https://www.health.harvard. edu/blog/why-are-mrna-vaccines-so-exciting-2020121021599
