feeling blessed...and safer, thanks to science

On Tuesday, I received the second shot of the Pfizer vaccine.

So far, so good!

Then again, I am a scientist, so I knew how to minimize any reactions.

 

First, I increased my protein intake for two days prior to the shot in the arm.

I wanted to make sure my amino acid pool was full!

After all, it's difficult to build antibody proteins if the pool level is low.

I knew that those proteins, and others, would need to be constructed if I were to rendered safe from severe COVID infection.

The vaccine to prevent death by coughing contains messenger-ribonucleic acid, mRNA; I know that molecule to contain a recipe to build a specific protein.

(Hooray for 24 years of teaching biochemistry!

There are two other types of ribonucleic acid, rRNA and tRNA, but they do not contain recipes for building proteins.

The tRNA transports the individual amino acids to the protein-building site in the cell.

The rRNA is the key that turns on the protein-building site in the cell.)

This particular mRNA molecule is encoded to build the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the part of that beast that is able to delve into human cells and lead to massive infection, eventually leading to death by coughing (i.e., COVID).

(It is important to note that the structure of that spike protein has been known since February 2020. Knowing that primary structure, which is the order of the amino acids in the entire spike protein molecule, was the start of developing a vaccine to fight the coronavirus.

In a manner akin to having a fancy dish at a restaurant and recreating that meal at home, it is first necessary to know the ingredients of the dish (which amino acids).

Then, as any good chef will attest, the order in which those ingredients are combined makes the difference between a good meal and a fabulous meal.

That's how a recipe is developed, in accordance to the order of combining ingredients.

The mRNA molecule is that recipe, formed by first listing the order of the amino acids needed, then referring to the Genetic Code table for the order of nucleotides required to make that recipe a reality.

The magic of this vaccine, as well as the one developed by Moderna, is that it contains this mRNA, to build that protein, without the rest of the coronavirus being present.

This incredible bit of mRNA acts as a master chef in the kitchen of our cells, cooking up that spike protein and then releasing it into our bloodstream.

Bwah ha ha!
That's when our immune response kicks in.

Recognizing that the protein is not a usual resident in our body, our immune system reacts to the stranger-danger (antigen), tagging and bagging it with an antibody and thereby denying it entry to our cells.

Hooray for lymphocytes!

Specifically, hooray for B cells!

Hooray for the decades of science research that enabled the development of these two vaccines!

The 1950's provided the double-helix structure of deoxyribonucleic acid, more commonly known as DNA.

The structure of mRNA molecules became known in the 1960's, as well as the correlation between that structure and the order of amino acids in the proteins constructed.

(Bear in mind that each mRNA serves as the 'recipe' for one specific protein. Thus many mRNA molecules are required to build all the proteins (hemoglobin, progesterone, collagen, insulin, immunoglobulin, lactase, myosin, etc.) needed by the body. All mRNA molecules required are built from DNA during transcription, so that means DNA can be thought of as the master cookbook with all the recipes.)

Genetic engineering came along in the 1970's, with the development of the first recombinant DNA molecule, and truly served as the basis for the vaccines used to combat the current coronavirus and its variants.

That work led to research in the late 1980's on the DNA in simple life forms, such as bacteria, with the first insight into clustered, regularly interspaced, short, pallindromic repeats (now called CRISPR) which arose as an immune response toward an invading phage.

(Nice to know invaders don't just go after us higher forms of life, isn't it?)

In the 1990's that work then led into genome editing, which, simply stated, involves the changing of DNA by insertion or removal of portions of it.

Enter Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna, the winners of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, based on their 2012 work with genome editing using CRISPR, those DNA bits found in the 1980's in bacteria. They developed a gene-editing tool that has allowed scientists around the world to better resolve genetic mysteries.

Perhaps, one day, cures for each type of cancer can be developed using this methodology!

For now, we have these new vaccines to fight the pandemic which has held the world hostage for well over a year.

Hallelujah!

So... even though these mRNA-enhanced vaccines appeared as if the research had been rushed, in truth the research had been building for decades.

The real trick had been ramping up for mass production of the vaccines.

That feat was accomplished by throwing money at the issue, lots and lots of federal funds for the production and distribution of the vaccines, free of cost, to every red-blooded citizen of the United States that was willing to roll up their sleeve.

Hallelujah!

 

Second, I made sure I was well-rested before the vaccine, and have continued to allow my body to have plenty of sleep.

Why have I done so?

While I sleep is when the body makes all of these proteins that are required to keep me functioning, and now it had new recipes to include.

 

So, more protein and sleep before the shot, more protein and sleep afterward.

The day of the shot I had soreness in my arm near the injection shot, but it wasn't bad.

The shot itself was given in such a tiny needle that I hardly even felt it - truly, I have had mosquito bites that hurt worse!

The day afterward, my arm was tender near the injection area, but only if I touched it.

The shingles shot was much more painful, and red and hot, for almost a week.

Now, three days in, I barely register any pain for this anti-COVID vaccine.

Hallelujah!

Off I go soon to the movies - it's finally Friday!

Even better, there are new movies to be seen!!!

Tonight it'll be Michelle Pfeiffer in "French Exit", about a woman moving off to Paris to finish out her life... tre bien!

Tomorrow, I'm looking forward to "Godzilla vs Kong" and I'm doing it the way it was meant to be: larger than life and rocking the chair in the BigD way!

What about Sunday's movie, to round out my A*List trio at the AMC?

I guess we'll have to wait and see!

It's good to have choices!

Hallelujah!