Našla jsem jednu jeho letošní "školní úvahu" v AJ, aby bylo jasné, o čem tak zhruba mluvím, prosím nereagovat, ať to můžu smazat.

The not so cheeky Pfizer vaccine

Recently there has been a lot of fuss around the new Pfizer vaccine against covid-19. So I decided to dedicate my article to this topic. I""ll try to explain the basics, that I myself am able to understand.
When a virus attacks a cell, it “unlocks it, or pries it open” using spike proteins. Then it injects its genetic material into the cell, which forces the cell to produce more viruses. Those viruses are then released, killing the cell in process. If the virus doesn’t find the right cell (in the case of covid, a cell from the respiratory system) it can stumble upon a phagocyte, a tough cell from the innate immune system. The phagocyte then proceeds to kill the virus, and dismantle it in such ways, that parts of the now dead virus aren’t completely dissolved. Those parts are then displayed on the surface of the phagocyte, where other immune cells can see them. Especially T-helper cells. T-helper cells “realize” that the stuff that the phagocyte showed to it is no good, and warns the rest of the immune system. And so the B lymphocytes are introduced. B lymphocytes are produced, with slight variations, trying to look for the best variant to fight with the virus, whose parts were introduced to it. This is called the adaptive immune system. Where the body is basically trying to find the antidote itself. Sometimes, the innate immune system, that’s not specific and only fights with sheer force, does the job quicker. If the system is weakened, or both of its parts aren’t fast enough, the virus can kill its host.
How preventive vaccines work, is that they introduce parts of the virus to the immune system, before the infection even begins. So the immune system has more time to create specific immune cells. For example, the spike proteins of the coronavirus could be used. Because their structure is well known, and thy themselves cannot do any harm. But they are really expensive and difficult to produce and store. So the Pfizer vaccine does things a little bit different. It contains mRNA (messenger RNA) from the part of the viruses genetic code, that creates the spike proteins. Those mRNA strands are immersed in nanolipids (basically fat) so they can be safely delivered to the cell. When the cell receives the information, it produces spike proteins, puts them on its surface, phagocytes notice the, and the story goes on…
This process is well studied and understood, and should be safe. But there are still things that make a lot of people cautious. This mRNA vaccine is new, and available in a suspiciously short amount of time. Well, it isn’t actually that new, it just wasn’t used on humans, but on animals such as horses and cattle. Which, to be honest, doesn’t sound much better for the average consumer. But there has to be a first time for everything. The other concern is the time. It seems improbable that in such short amount of time they would have time to test the vaccine on humans properly. There is an explanation for this. Money. With a huge pandemic all around the world, more people were forced to fund the vaccine, and collaborate. Normally there are multiple steps of testing vaccines on animals, and different groups of people (about 3 phases of different amount of people). Now, there was enough money to run all those tests at the same time. Greatly shortening the final release date.
So, there it is. A sum of the inner workings of the both feared and awaited vaccine. Now it is up to you to look into the topic! But there should be nothing to fear. Hopefully 😉.