A CLOSER LOOK: COVID-19 vaccines and what makes them different – KNWA

ARKANSAS (KNWA/KFTA) When a person is vaccinated with any of the COVID-19 vaccines, it takes about two weeks for the body to build up protection against the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Four vaccines have been developed, but one is suspended as of Tuesday, April 13, as recommended by the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), out of an abundance of caution.

The Johnson & Johnson (J&J/Janssen) single-shot vaccine is on pause for at least a week, after six women developed blood clots in a combination with low platelets, one person has died, according to the CDC.

The J&J vaccine uses adenovirus (a common virus that, when not inactivated, can cause colds, bronchitis, and other illnesses, per Yale Medicine). This is from the double-stranded DNA viruses, identified in human adenoid tissue. Astra Zeneca also uses adenovirus but from chimpanzees. The J&J vaccine was approved for use in the U.S. on February 27, 2021.

In the U.K., 79 people who received their first dose of the Astra Zeneca (AZ) vaccine developed rare blood clots, of which 52 were women. Of the group 19 died, according to data from the UKs Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

MHRA states that getting vaccinated is better than not getting vaccinated.

COVID-19 leads to a several-times higher risk of cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) blood clots than current COVID-19 vaccines.

The above information is from the University of Oxford researchers who released a report on Thursday, April 15.

As a disclosure, the Astra Zeneca (AZ/AZD1222) vaccine was co-invented by the University of Oxford and Vaccitech. The study, released Thursday, was led by Oxford Universitys Professor Paul Harrison and Dr. Maxime Taquet. They counted the number of CVT (cerebral venous thrombosis, also called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis CVST) cases diagnosed in the two weeks following diagnosis of COVID-19, or after the first dose of a vaccine. They then compared these to calculated incidences of CVT following influenza and the background level in the general population.

They found that CVT is more common after a person has COVID-19 compared to other groups, and 30% of the cases were people under the age of 30.

The researchers stated that data is still being collected. There may also be under-reporting or mis-coding of CVT in medical records, and therefore uncertainty as to the precision of the results.

This data should be interpreted cautiously, especially since the data on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine come from UK MHRA monitoring, whereas the other data uses the TriNetX electronic healthrecords network. However, the signals that COVID-19 is linked to CVT, as well as portal vein thrombosis a clotting disorder of the liver is clear, and one we should take note of.

AZ uses a replication-deficient chimpanzee viral vector based on a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) that causes infections in chimpanzees and contains the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein. After vaccination, the surface spike protein is produced, priming the immune system to attack the SARS-CoV-2 virus if it later infects the body, according to AZs website. J&J uses adenovirus but from humans, as stated above.

Both of the vaccines use messenger ribonucleuc acid (mRNA). These are single-stranded molecules that carry genetic code from DNA in a cells nucleus to ribosomes, which make protein in the cells.mRNA vaccines are a new type of vaccine to protect against infectious diseases, according to the CDC. The Pfizer-BioNTech was approved for use in the U.S. through an FDA EUA (emergency use authorization) on December 11, 2020. Moderna was approved, through an FDA EUA, on December 18, 2020. The vaccines require two shots.

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A CLOSER LOOK: COVID-19 vaccines and what makes them different - KNWA