WheatNOil (@WheatNOil) / X

WheatNOil

45.3K posts

WheatNOil

@WheatNOil

Hockey, Geekiness, Parenthood. Physician at the U of Saskatchewan. Also on too many other social media sites, but all under this username.

Joined February 2015

WheatNOil
@WheatNOil
Dec 17, 2020
The mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) are kind of brilliant at a science level. I’ve had a few people in my real non-Twitter life ask me to explain how it works so I’m going to try my best here in this thread while I’m waiting for a patient to show.
WheatNOil
@WheatNOil
Dec 17, 2020
Replying to @WheatNOil
So then, a COVID virus enters your body. Your body has never seen the virus before. BUT it’s seen that protein that’s on the outside of the virus. Your memory cells say “you’ve got to be kidding me, THIS asshole again? Get the fuck out of here!”
WheatNOil
@WheatNOil
Dec 17, 2020
Replying to @WheatNOil
Once it fights off the virus, though, it remembers it. You’ve got memory cells in your immune system and if you run into that virus again, your memory cells say “I’ve seen this asshole before”. Your body uses it’s past experience to demolish the virus before it can make you sick.
WheatNOil
@WheatNOil
Dec 17, 2020
Replying to @WheatNOil
Your cells see these instructions and say “sure, I’ll make this”. So your cells make a bunch of the asshole protein. You immune system sees this new protein you’re producing and immediately says “what... the fuck... is this?” And it starts attacking the protein.
WheatNOil
@WheatNOil
Dec 17, 2020
Replying to @WheatNOil
The vaccine contains no actual part of the virus. It has only the instructions on how to make the asshole protein. So, you can’t get infected with COVID from the vaccine. You just get these instructions.
WheatNOil
@WheatNOil
Dec 17, 2020
Replying to @WheatNOil
What if the virus mutates so it doesn’t produce the asshole protein any more? Well, since it uses the asshole protein to get into your cells, if it mutates away from the asshole protein, it’ll probably also be less infectious. That’s what makes the vaccine low-key brilliant.
WheatNOil
@WheatNOil
Dec 17, 2020
Replying to @WheatNOil
Remember it hasn’t seen this protein before. It takes awhile to ramp up production. Then it launches an all out war against the asshole protein. The fevers, chills, muscle soreness, etc you might get as vaccine side effects is your body bombing the hell out of the asshole protein
WheatNOil
@WheatNOil
Dec 17, 2020
Replying to @WheatNOil
So you destroy the asshole protein (which in and of itself can’t infect you, it’s just a protein, not the virus). Now here’s the important part. Your memory cells ‘remember’ the asshole protein. They remember exactly how to destroy it.
WheatNOil
@WheatNOil
Dec 17, 2020
Replying to @WheatNOil
Congratulations! Now, you’re immune to COVID! You’ve got the blueprints to defeat it as soon as it enters your body.
WheatNOil
@WheatNOil
Dec 17, 2020
Replying to @WheatNOil
That protein, by the way, is an important one for the virus. It uses that protein to get into your cells. That protein makes the virus more infectious. In short, that protein makes the virus more of an asshole.
WheatNOil
@WheatNOil
Dec 17, 2020
Replying to @WheatNOil
The first thing to know is how your immune system works. Basically, your immune cells attack anything foreign to your body. If it sees a protein or a virus or a bacteria or anything that it doesn’t recognize, it launches an attack.
WheatNOil
@WheatNOil
Dec 17, 2020
Replying to @WheatNOil
I saw this awhile back and it’s, of course, brilliant. I wanted to break it down to step more basic than this and throw in a few more swears but Rob’s video here is fantastic.
Rob Swanda
@ScientistSwanda
Dec 7, 2020
Here I describe a brief overview of how the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna mRNA vaccines work. Taking a vaccine is one’s personal choice, and I hope this video can help someone make that decision rooted in science.
00:00
WheatNOil
@WheatNOil
Dec 17, 2020
Replying to @WheatNOil
Now COVID has DNA in it that codes for all of its parts. So scientists looked at the entire DNA sequence of virus and found the sequence of DNA that is the blueprints for that protein. The asshole protein.
WheatNOil
@WheatNOil
Dec 17, 2020
Replying to @WheatNOil
Your body’s own ‘natural immune system’ quickly and efficiently launches an all out war, using the template it has from when it destroyed the asshole protein last time. It destroys the virus before it can take hold, replicate, and make you sick.