On this day in 2020, the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine entered phase 1 trials, making it the first COVID vaccine to do so. This came less than a week after the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. How was it possible for this to happen so quickly? The third part of the #ChemVsCOVID series, produced with the Royal Society of Chemistry, gives a brief overview of the prior work and what the phase 1 trials looked at.
Relatively hot on the heels of the Pfizer & BioNTech RNA vaccine, today the UK has approved the Oxford University & AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The Oxford vaccine is a viral vector vaccine, which works slightly differently to the RNA vaccines. This graphic, made with the Royal Society of Chemistry, looks at how they work and highlights other vaccines of this type in use or development for COVID-19.
When you recover from an infection, what stops you from catching it again? The latest edition of Periodic Graphics in C&EN looks at how our immune system responds to infections like coronavirus, how we can test to see if someone’s had an infection, and how vaccines work to prevent them. View the full graphic on the C&EN site.
The recent measles outbreak in the US has once again provoked discussion over vaccinations, and why some parents choose not to vaccinate their children despite the benefits of doing so. Whilst not the only factor, part of the blame lies with misinformation about the chemical composition of vaccines and the effects these compounds can have. This graphic summarises some of the key components in vaccines, as well as clarifying their purpose and safety in the concentrations present.
