A Short History of Vaccines and the Rapid Development, Mechanism and Efficacy of the COVID-19 Vaccine
Description
Undergraduate honors thesis / Open access
Abstract
The first significant breakthrough in the use of vaccines to protect against infection was the
development of the smallpox vaccine in 1796. Since then, there has been tremendous progress in
scientific research and discovery that has led to the current arsenal of highly-effective vaccines
that exist today. A vaccine is meant to train the body's immune system into remembering a
specific bacteria or virus so as to be able to robustly battle against it. The immune system
develops an immune memory, which is then used to rapidly respond to the pathogen and prevent
it from causing disease.1 Most traditional vaccines were originally based on a weakened or
inactive form of a virus. The rise of the COVID-19 vaccine occurred in record time, gaining
emergency use authorization (EUA) in just under a year. The power of mRNA-based vaccines
was highlighted particularly through the widespread use of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID
vaccines. While the mRNA-based vaccines are preferred, several other vaccines were developed
through classical methods to protect against COVID. The variety of vaccines, while all effective,
vary in their efficacy rates and protocols. There are specific side effects and risks that pertain to
each vaccine. Even with multiple successful rounds of clinical trials and testing of the COVID
vaccine, there is still a significant subset of the population who is against vaccination for
personal, political or religious reasons. The rise of new variants of the virus and breakthrough
cases among the already vaccinated present additional challenges that will drive future research
in the field and fuel the race to come up with a pan-coronavirus vaccine.
Permanent Link(s)
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12202/8241Citation
Morris, S. (2022, May). A Short History of Vaccines and the Rapid Development, Mechanism and Efficacy of the COVID-19 Vaccine. Undergraduate honors thesis, Yeshiva University.
*This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise.
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