# How the Covid 19 vaccine works

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-covid-19-vaccine-works/927570>\
**Category:** The Quarantine Zone\
**Tags:** covid-quarantine\
**Created:** [December 8, 2020, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-covid-19-vaccine-works/927570 "2020-12-08T13:38:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-covid-19-vaccine-works/927570/1 "2020-12-08T13:38:19Z")

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Excellent short video here about how a mRNA vaccine works

> <https://twitter.com/ScientistSwanda/status/1335988328362090500>

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**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-covid-19-vaccine-works/927570/2 "2020-12-08T14:21:57Z")

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If you want a longer video about the development of the Moderna vaccine, check out lecture 10. I’ve posted this before, but it’s highly relevant to this thread.

> **[New Subject Offering: "COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 and the Pandemic"](https://biology.mit.edu/undergraduate/current-students/subject-offerings/covid-19-sars-cov-2-and-the-pandemic/)**
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> In Fall 2020, all MIT students and the general public are welcome to join Professors Richard Young and Facundo Batista as they discuss the science of the pandemic during this new class.

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-covid-19-vaccine-works/927570/3 "2020-12-08T17:54:31Z")

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Note there’s not one “the” COVID vaccine, but several in development. Not all are mRNA vaccines.

Certainly there will be some vaccine that gets approved first and will be “the” vaccine on offer. But a couple more probably won’t be far behind.

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**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-covid-19-vaccine-works/927570/4 "2020-12-16T04:01:43Z")

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Are the COVID-19 spike proteins same/similar to what is found on other corona viruses? Is it at all possible that this vaccine will work for other similar viruses, or are the spike proteins that it works against unique to COVID-19?