NONPLUSSED BY ARTIST DR MAYCIE ELCHOUFI
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Why The Oxford Chadox1-Ncov-19 Vaccine Is So Promising AND THE CONCEPT SO EXCITING Wri t t en by Dr. N a n a D a dzi e G ha nsa h
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he Oxford ChAdOx1- nCoV19 vaccine holds a lot of promise, not only as a way to deal with COVID-19 but also with future viral outbreaks.The method of using a viral vector as a way of presenting antigens into the human body allows for a very novel and fast way of getting new vaccines. Let’s say Virus X has caused an outbreak of a disease and you need to make a vaccine to fight it. Classically, to get a vaccine against it, you have to introduce a piece or all of virus X into the human body. You could also use another virus (a piece of it or the whole virus) from the same family that Virus X comes from. Now if you use the 1 6 | M AY / J U N E 2 0 2 0
whole virus, you need to either kill it, inactivate or weaken it so it does cause disease. Once the virus or a piece of it gets into the human body, the immune system recognizes it as something foreign and builds antibodies against it. These antibodies last a long time so the next time you get an infection caused by Virus X, the antibodies attack the virus and inactivate it before it makes you sick. Thus, you can use it to prevent disease in those who haven’t fallen sick yet. The Oxford team used another method. Instead of using the SARSCoV-2 virus or even a piece of it, they use a vector to get a part of SARS-CoV-2
into the body. The vector they use is another virus. This virus is called an Adenovirus and they use the type found in chimpanzees. Once they have that adenovirus, they modify it to the point where it is unable to replicate anymore or make any mammal sick. It becomes basically a shell. Once they have that adenovirus shell, they get the RNA from the SARSCoV-2 virus and get out the part of the RNA that makes the Spike Protein that SARS-CoV-2 needs to get into the cells of the lungs. Once that piece of RNA gets into the adenovirus shell, it causes the building of the Spike on the outside of the shell. (Remember, RNA and DNA
