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What Is A Vaccine?
Everyone's talking about vaccines, and the information can be confusing. Let's get back to basics for a moment: What is a vaccine?
This article is part of a series explaining the COVID-19 pandemic. Please consider starting at Part 1: What is a virus or check out the whole series by clicking the button below.
What Is A Vaccine?
The first vaccine was used in 1796 when Edward Jenner inoculated an 8-year-old boy with material taken from a cowpox sore on another person, under the hypothesis that having cowpox, which typically has very mild symptoms in humans, would protect against smallpox. Jenner later variolated the boy with smallpox material to test the boy’s reaction: he remained healthy. (HistoryofVaccines.org). As word began to spread about these results it grew in popularity, eventually leading to mass adoption. In fact, the very word, vaccination, is derived from Jenner’s experiment. Vacca is the Latin word for cow. (Science)
Some Terminology
Variolate - As early as 1000CE in Asia, variolation was used as a measure to try and prevent people from dying of smallpox. Variolation is the process of deliberately infecting someone with a controlled dose of smallpox such as dried scabs from smallpox sores.
Innoculate - To implant a microorganism into an environment. In medicine, it typically refers to vaccinations to prevent disease, but in general microbiology, it can be used more generally.
Vaccinate - To innoculate with the specific intent of preventing disease
Immunize - To make someone immune to a disease, to prevent them from getting a disease.
Sources:
National Library of Medicine - Smallpox: A Great And Terrible Scourge
Dictionary.com - “Vaccinate” vs. “Inoculate” vs. “Immunize”: What Are The Differences?
Since then, vaccines have been used as a medical technology to control and, in some cases, eradicate harmful pathogens. As we previously mentioned in our Understanding COVID-19 series, a pathogen is an organism such as “a bacterium, virus, parasite or fungus that can cause disease within the body”
Unlike medicines such as antibiotics, which are usually prescribed once a person has become infected with a pathogen to cure or ease the symptoms of a disease, vaccines work with our natural immune system and responses to prevent becoming infected in the first place, or to reduce the severity of an illness for which you have been inoculated (Immunize BC – What are vaccines?).
“Vaccines train your immune system to create antibodies, just as it does when it’s exposed to a disease. However, because vaccines contain only killed or weakened forms of germs like viruses or bacteria, they do not cause the disease or put you at risk of its complications.”
-World Health Organization
Most, but not all, vaccines introduce weakened or deactivated versions of a pathogen, called antigens, to your immune system through injection, or oral consumption (World Health Organization – Vaccines and Immunization). Once the antigens are introduced, our immune system begins to develop antibodies for that specific antigen, which then combat the pathogen spreading throughout and infecting the body. Our immune system also remembers the antibodies it produces for specific antigens to protect against the same harmful pathogens in the future. This process of developing antibodies and remembering them is called immunization or becoming immune to that pathogen (IMMUNIZE BC – How Do Vaccines Work).
World Health Organization - How Do Vaccines Work?
Side Effects
Because vaccines use damaged or inactivated versions of the pathogen, they are very safe, although there can be side effects. Many people feel some muscle discomfort where they received the vaccine if injected, or a few side effects, this is called an inflammatory reaction. These reactions mean your immune system is hard at work doing its job developing the antibodies to fight the pathogen you were vaccinated for. Common side effects may include muscle aches, fever, chills, or headaches (Government of Canada – Vaccine safety, concerns, and possible side effects).
“It is much safer to get the vaccine than to get the disease it prevents.”
-IMMUNIZE BC
Effectiveness of Vaccines
In the late 18th century, smallpox was a pervasive disease. “On average, 3 out of 10 people infected died of from the disease” (Center for Disease Control - History of Small Pox), while those who survived were left with severe scarring of the skin.
Over time, Jenner’s work inspired others to improve upon the original smallpox vaccine and develop vaccines for additional pathogens such as rabies, diphtheria, measles, polio, and many other diseases, including COVID-19.
On May 8, 1980, 196 years after Jenner inoculated the 8-year-old boy, the WHO declared smallpox eradicated from the planet. (CDC: History of Smallpox)
“We now have vaccines to prevent more than 20 life-threatening diseases, helping people of all ages live longer, healthier lives. Immunization currently prevents 2-3 million deaths every year from diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, influenza, and measles.”
-World Health Organization
Infographic: Government of Canada - Vaccines Work
Immunization And Herd Immunity
Vaccinations protect us as individuals against harmful pathogens, but they also help protect others in our communities. Once you become immune to a pathogen by being vaccinated, your chances of spreading the virus are reduced or eliminated.
When enough people become vaccinated against a pathogen in a community, others who cannot be vaccinated are protected, creating an effect called herd immunity, or population immunity. On a basic level, when enough people in a community are vaccinated, pathogens have a difficult time finding a suitable host to replicate in, because the majority of people the pathogen encounters are immune.
When a vaccine becomes available, it is important for as many people to become vaccinated as possible. This is because there are some vulnerable people in our communities that cannot be vaccinated due to underlying health conditions, allergies to vaccine components, or because they do not have access to a vaccine. For example, as of this writing (April 9, 2021), there are no COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in children under the age of 16, though clinical trials are underway.
Watch this brief graphic animation from Harvard Medical School to see how herd immunity works.
Dr. Kara Loos, a genomics research associate from the Institute for Microbial Systems and Society (MISS) at the University of Regina, says that different pathogens require different percentages of herd immunity. For example, Measles is one of the most contagious pathogens on Earth. According to the World Health Organization, it is estimated that 95% of a community needs to be vaccinated against measles to create the required herd immunity to protect the remaining 5% of the population who cannot be vaccinated. By comparison, herd immunity for the polio disease is achieved when about 80% of the population is vaccinated (World Health Organization – Herd Immunity, Lockdowns and COVID-19).
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, some countries felt that the best way to deal with the disease was through natural herd immunity (Reuters). In all cases, this proved to be disastrous as hundreds of thousands of people died, often overwhelming available health resources. Herd immunity for COVID-19 must be achieved through vaccination. “The proportion of the population that must be vaccinated against COVID-19 to begin inducing herd immunity is not known. This is an important area of research and will likely vary according to the community, the vaccine, the populations prioritized for vaccination, and other factors” (World Health Organization).
An upcoming article will focus specifically on COVID-19 vaccines, and on the different types of vaccines available in the fight against COVID-19. However, this much is clear: the best vaccine for you is the one available to you right now.
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The COVID-19 Vaccine(s)
This article is part of a series explaining the COVID-19 pandemic. Please consider starting at Part 1: What is a virus or check out the whole series by clicking the button below.
The different COVID-19 vaccines available in the world represent a tremendous success by science. These vaccines were developed, tested, and proven safe very quickly, saving millions of lives around the world.
These vaccines were so successful, in fact, that some people questioned their safety or are/were hesitant to take the vaccine because they thought that it may have been rushed.
The truth is, scientists from all over the world worked on finding vaccines for COVID-19. The seemingly rapid development of the vaccines was not due to corner-cutting or shortcuts but was due to the immense worldwide funding, focus, and collaboration as a result of the severity of the pandemic.
All of the vaccines which have been approved around the world are safe and effective against preventing serious hospitalization and death from COVID-19. In all cases, the small risk of side effects from the vaccines far outweighs the potential risks of contracting COVID-19.
The best vaccine for you is the one that has been approved and which you have access to.
Vaccines that have been approved in different countries around the world include:
Sinovac-CoronaVac - developed by Beijing-based Sinovac. CoronaVac uses inactivated virus toexpose the bodies immune system to the virus without risking serious disease. (https://www.who.int/news/item/01-06-2021-who-validates-sinovac-covid-19-vaccine-for-emergency-use-and-issues-interim-policy-recommendations)
Sputnik V - Developed in Russia, the Sputnik V COVID-19 Vaccine uses a recombinant adenovirus approach. Each of the two doses uses a different adenovirus as vectors (AD26 and Ad5) as vectors to overcome any pre-existing adenovirus immunity in the population. (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00191-4/fulltext)
Pfizer/BioNTech (Comirnaty) - This is an mRNA vaccine. This vaccine uses mRNA to teach our body how to create a protein that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. Our bodies produce the protein, and also produces the antibodies that protect us from those antibodies. mRNA vaccines do not change our DNA and the cells which produce the protein break down once the protein is complete. (https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/covid19-industry/drugs-vaccines-treatments/vaccines/pfizer-biontech.html)
Moderna (Spikevax) - Like the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, this is also an mRNA vaccine. mRNA vaccines teach our cells how to make a protein that will trigger an immune response without using the live virus that causes COVID-19. Once triggered, our body then makes antibodies. These antibodies help us fight the infection if the real virus does enter our body in the future. (https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/covid19-industry/drugs-vaccines-treatments/vaccines/moderna.html)
Astra-Zeneca/COVISHIELD (Vaxzevria) - Sometimes known as the Oxford Vaccine, this vaccine uses a harmless virus (the adenovirus) as a delivery system. This adenovirus is not the virus that causes COVID-19; you can not get COVID-19 from this vaccine. There are many different types of adenoviruses, including some that cause colds in humans and that infect other species. Scientists have been using these viruses for decades to deliver the instructions for proteins. (https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/covid19-industry/drugs-vaccines-treatments/vaccines/astrazeneca.html)
Johnson & Johnson (Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine) - The active ingredient of COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen, also known as Ad26.COV2-S (recombinant), is a recombinant adenoviral vector that contains the sequence that encodes the spike protein (S) of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This vaccine was approved with a single dose with no booster required. (https://www.who.int/news/item/12-03-2021-who-adds-janssen-vaccine-to-list-of-safe-and-effective-emergency-tools-against-covid-19)
Click Here For A List Of All Vaccines Approved For Use In Canada
Failed Vaccines
With the large number of successful vaccines which have been deployed around the world and the speed with which they were deployed, some people may have felt that developing a vaccine was easy. This isn’t true; these vaccines were developed quickly due to the billions of dollars of research money, time, collaboration, and effort that was put into developing the vaccines. Hearing about the successful vaccines is an example of Survivorship Bias - a type of cognitive bias that makes us forget about the base rate of failures and instead focus on the relatively small number of successes (https://fs.blog/2019/12/survivorship-bias/).
In fact, some of the world’s largest and most well-known vaccine makers were unable to develop or chose not to develop COVID-19 vaccines, including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, and Sanofi (https://www.ft.com/content/657b123a-78ba-4fba-b18e-23c07e313331). Australia had been working on their own COVID-19 vaccine at the University of Queensland using a ‘molecular clamp’ approach. The development of this vaccine, which showed promise in early testing, was also halted (https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/12/development-unique-australian-covid-19-vaccine-halted).
The bottom line: you can feel safe knowing that when a vaccine is approved for use that it has been thoroughly tested and is safe.
COVID-19 Vaccine Conspiracy Theories
It’s not hard to discover conspiracy theories about almost anything on the internet, COVID-19 vaccines included. From microchips to infertility, misinformation about these life-saving vaccines abounds on the internet.
Sometimes conspiracy theories begin as a joke, other times there is a motive - because the originator wants to make a name or money for themselves or a movement, for example.
Why do people come to believe in conspiracy theories? There are many reasons, but they often stem from a need to explain, accept, or rationalize a discrepancy between what one believes and what one experiences. They can make one feel safe when overwhelmed in the world - like you have it all figured out.
In the case of COVID-19 vaccines, those conspiracy theories can cost lives - the lives of the people who believe in them, and the people around them. It is important to think critically and rely on the advice of established health organizations such as the World Health Organization, Health Canada, and the US Center for Disease Control.
Additional Resources:
WHO COVID-19 Dashboard - https://covid19.who.int/
COVID-19 Vaccines Side Effects - https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/side-effects-of-covid-19-vaccines
COVID-19 Vaccines in Canada - https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/vaccines.html
Understanding MRNA - https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines/mrna.html
Understanding Viral Vector-Based Vaccines - https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/covid19-industry/drugs-vaccines-treatments/vaccines/type-viral-vector.html
Government of Saskatchewan COVID-19 Info Page - https://www.saskatchewan.ca/coronavirus
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Explore the Wind
We are surrounded by air, but it’s during a windstorm that we really feel the presence of air around us. But why do winds blow and how does air decide in which direction to go? Know all about wind in this blog.
Explore the Wind - It’ll Blow Your Mind Away!
We are surrounded by air, but it’s during a windstorm that we really feel the presence of air around us. But why do winds blow and how does air decide in which direction to go?
Why wind blows?
Wind is the flow of air in a specific direction and here are three key factors that cause winds to blow in a direction:
Temperature
When the Sun shines on Earth, its rays don’t reach our atmosphere uniformly and some places heat up more than the others. For example, the equatorial regions receive more heat from the Sun than other parts of the Earth. As a result, the temperature of air varies across different regions on Earth. The warm air is lighter than the cold air, so warm air rises up and the cold air from the surrounding areas moves in to replace the warm air. This causes a flow of air from colder to warmer areas.
2. Pressure
As we move on Earth towards the areas of higher altitude, the atmospheric pressure increases. This difference in land elevation on the Earth’s surface also affects air movement. The air moves from an area of high pressure to the areas with low pressure, creating a wind current. The difference in the pressure determines the speed of air, the greater the pressure difference, the greater the wind speed.
3. Earth’s rotation
The Earth’s rotation on its axis causes the air in the Northern Hemisphere to shift to the right and air in the Southern Hemisphere to shift to the left. This creates clockwise or counter clockwise winds, known as prevailing winds.
How do we use winds to improve our lives?
Humans have used wind to their advantage in many ways, for example, before we had engines to move vessels, we used sail-powered ships to explore the sea and travel. From history, we know that humans relied on winds’ speed and direction to establish quick, reliable routes to travel across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Wind is also a source of generating electricity (using windmills). The wind energy is environment friendly and sustainable, which means that the source of wind energy is not finite, and it can be sustained for foreseeable future.
Knowing and predicting the winds make our lives safe and comfortable in many other ways. For example, we need to know the wind speed/direction to fly safely. Similarly, engineers need to know the wind speed in an area to design safe buildings, especially skyscrapers.
Make your own tornado at home!
Tornadoes are one of the most severe forms of weather that Saskatchewan faces in the summer. They can be very exciting to watch on television but can also be dangerous.
Using the materials included in the Out of the Box Outdoor Science Kit, you can create your very own tornado in two bottles at home and amaze your friends and parents!
In addition to this activity, the kit includes supplies for 10 more hands-on science themed activities that you can perform to learn more about natural phenomena such as the Sun, stars, etc.
Want to know more about extreme winds and tornadoes?
Watch this episode from SSC tv that dives deep into the science behind tornadoes and clouds.
Loving this content? Make a donation to the Saskatchewan Science Centre!
#letssciencethis #SaskScienceCentre #AtHomeWithCASC #ScienceChampions #ScienceAtHome #realsciencerealfun
What Can We Learn from Studying The Sun?
Life on Earth is possible because of the heat and energy we receive from the Sun. But that’s not the only way that the Sun affects life on Earth. Explore how the activity on the surface of the Sun affects us on Earth and in space.
Exploring the Sun
Life on Earth depends on the heat and energy we receive from the Sun. But that’s not the only way that the Sun affects life on Earth. The activity on the surface of the Sun affects us in many ways. Let’s first explore what is happening in the Sun!
What’s up at the Sun?
The Sun is made up of a huge amount of gases. Hydrogen makes up 92.1% of these gases and 7.8% of the Sun’s mass is helium. There are also other gases and metals such as iron, nickel, oxygen, silicon, sulphur, magnesium, carbon, neon, calcium, and chromium that make up the rest of the Sun’s mass.
The hydrogen in the core of the Sun is going through a process called nuclear fusion. In this process lighter elements (hydrogen items in this case) fuse together due to pressure (such as gravity) and make up a new element (helium in this case). The Sun is using up hydrogen and making helium through this nuclear fusion process for billions of years. An enormous amount of energy is released when hydrogen nuclei are combined into one helium nucleus. This energy reaches us on Earth in the form of heat and light.
The Sun’s composition is not homogenous, rather it is divided into various layers. The core of the Sun is the only place where nuclear fusion reactions take place. The sun’s other layers are heated from the nuclear energy created in the core of the Sun. Likewise, there are other activities happening on various layers of the Sun.
How do the events at the Sun impact Earth?
Among other activities, the Sun produces a continuous flow of charged particles, called the solar wind, in all directions. This wave of charged particles slows down as it travels through space, but it still reaches us at Earth.
Nicky Fox, the division director for heliophysics at NASA headquarters, explains that solar wind affects Earth magnetosphere like this: “As the wind flows toward Earth, it carries with it the Sun’s magnetic field. It moves very fast, then smacks right into Earth’s magnetic field. The blow causes a shock to our magnetic protection, which can result in turbulence.”
The solar wind affects Earth in many ways, for example, it may disrupt communications, navigation systems, and satellites. Solar wind can also cause power outages. One such power outage was experienced by Canadians in 1989. It’s not all bad, though, the beautiful lights of the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis are also caused by the interaction of solar winds with Earth’s atmosphere.
Watch this video to know more about solar wind’s impact on Earth:
https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.eiu.solarwind/solar-winds-effect-on-earth/
How to study the Sun?
It is not safe to land or even go close to the Sun because it emits tremendous amounts of heat and radiation. That’s why scientists use innovative technology to study the Sun.
To study the Sun up close, NASA launched Parker Solar Probe that has now become the closest-ever human-made object to the Sun! On October 29, 2018, it went as close as 26.55 million miles to the Sun’s surface.
According to an article published by Forbes, “The Parker Solar Probe is set to continually make and break the record for the next few years, ending with a final close encounter of just 3.83 million miles from the Sun’s surface in 2024.”
You can study the Sun too!
People have been studying the sun for centuries, even before they had the cool technologies that scientists use today. The early scientists used a tool called a Camera Obscura that let them study an image of the sun safely.
Using the materials included in the Out of the Box Outdoor Science Kit (including the box itself), you can create your very own Camera Obscura (also called a pinhole camera) and amaze your friends and parents!
Learn more and order your kit here: https://www.sasksciencecentre.com/out-of-the-box-science
Want to learn more about the Sun?
Dig deep with this special episode of SSCTV that is all about the Sun!
Loving this content? Make a donation to the Saskatchewan Science Centre!
#letssciencethis #SaskScienceCentre #AtHomeWithCASC #ScienceChampions #ScienceAtHome #realsciencerealfun
Cavity-Nesting Birds
There are approximately 50 species of cavity dwelling birds in Canada. Know about various types and their preferences in building a house for raising their young ones
Where to Raise a Family - As a Bird?
Not all birds make nests out of twigs and leaves; instead, some birds like a proper house to live in and raise a family. These birds, called cavity-nesters, have two types. The birds that build their own houses by hollowing a tree or by digging a hole in rocks/dirt mounds are called primary cavity-nesting birds. The birds that use the cavities and holes deserted by other cavity-nesters are called the secondary cavity-nesting birds. Woodpeckers, nuthatches, and wrens are some common examples of cavity-nesting birds.
Custom-Built or Preowned House?
Primary cavity-nesters like to build their houses from scratch according to their own needs. They first pick a suitable location that is safe and has access to the necessary resources. Then they build their houses with the dimensions and layout that fulfills their needs. For example, some species like to have a small entry hole to deter predators from getting inside.
The secondary cavity-nesting birds, on the other hand, keep an eye out for an empty house built by the primary cavity-nesters or just find a natural cavity in trees or other structures. That’s because they don’t have the strong beaks to hollow a tree or dig a hole. They don’t usually make changes to these “preowned houses” and just start living in the cavities in whatever conditions they are available.
There are approximately 50 species of cavity-dwelling birds in Canada according to Nature Conservancy Canada. Have you seen a cavity-nesting bird in your area? Let us know in the comments below!
Want to take your outdoor exploration adventures to the next level?
Observing various types of birds is an excellent outdoor activity for summer. We have included birdwatching cards in our “Out of the Box Outdoor Science” kit to get kids excited about birds and learn about their habitat.
Kids will also get to explore leaves, campfires, bugs, animal poop, tornadoes, microorganisms, sunshine, and stars.
Know more about the “Out of the Box Outdoor Science” kit here:
Loving this content? Make a donation to the Saskatchewan Science Centre!
#letssciencethis #SaskScienceCentre #AtHomeWithCASC #ScienceChampions #ScienceAtHome #realsciencerealfun