How Do Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson Vaccines Work?

The two leading methods against the coronavirus have been split into two different vaccine systems. Both with different, yet effective methodologies; what makes these two types of vaccines different and how do they work?

Johnson & Johnson: A Viral Vector

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is known as a viral vector vaccine. This type of vaccine has been studied for decades and most recently has been used on outbreaks like the Ebola outbreak, Zika virus, the flu, and HIV.

The science behind a viral vector vaccine is simple: through the use of a different, but similar, virus which is then modified to induce an immune response. In the case of the COVID vaccine, the modification of an adenovirus is used. Adenoviruses are the source of the common cold and have a similar structure to that of the coronavirus, making it the perfect candidate.

The special gene for building spike proteins in coronavirus is added into the adenovirus and when introduced to the body, while attempting to infect a cell, it places replicas of its DNA into the body — including the gene for the coronavirus’ spike proteins. These spike proteins are then processed by the cell that is beginning to form an immune response to it in order to fight it off. The cell will then replicate those spike proteins onto its surface, so if encountered again, it can trigger an immune response by the cells around it.

Spike proteins are huge indicators to the body of an infection with the coronavirus; by adding this gene into an adenovirus that has been modified so that it is unable to cause sickness or replicate (this way it can enter the cells as a pathogen but not get you sick), the body can then identify and eradicate a coronavirus faster, easier, and with less complications than if it had never encountered the virus before.

Pfizer and Moderna: The mRNA

While a newer form of vaccine, the mRNA vaccine is not as unknown as it seems. About 30 years ago, the research on this type of vaccine truly began when scientists were trying to discover a new and more simple way to manufacture vaccines. With another very simple concept: creating an exact copy of the mRNA structure that makes up the protein coat of a virus, like the spike protein in the coronavirus, it could be injected and processed by immune cell.

This was the original thought process to the mRNA vaccine, and it worked flawlessly through the tiring efforts of scientists and researchers. The vaccine does not need a piece of the coronavirus, or a similar virus, in order to achieve immunity but, the mechanism is very similar.

The mRNA strand with the codes for the spike protein are inserted into the body and enter a cell, the cell then intakes those codes and creates the protein to identify the coronavirus spike protein, and then the infected cell is destroyed, leaving the body with the instructions to identify the virus if encountered in a real-life situation. Like the live vector vaccine, this then creates a weaker and faster immune response, or even stops you from manifesting illness at all.

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