Local vaccination campaign in a race against new coronavirus variant in southeast Idaho

SHELLEY – Local medical offices and pharmacies now provide vaccinations for individuals 16 years and older to help people avoid Covid-19 and its new variant UK B.1.1.7.

Southeastern Idaho Public Health announced on March 31, the presence of the United Kingdom Coronavirus variant (B.1.1.7) is in the area.  This variant has been identified previously in other states.  

Unlike the original virus, the UK variant B.1.1.7 is believed to be more infectious than the original virus. Authorities believe this variant of the virus is causing more sickness, which causes more hospitalization and deaths.       

“This variant is a concern because it spreads so much better than the original virus.  It looks like it replicates faster and replicates more in your upper respiratory tract and transmits a lot more effectively to other people than the other virus,” Virologist Shane Crotty, Ph.D. professor at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, told MedCram on March 25.

Currently, there are three vaccines approved in the United States; Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson.

“Pfizer and Moderna are the two vaccines approved by SIPH to be given out to individuals 16 years and older,” Tracy McCulloch, SIPH spokeswoman, said. 

Pfizer announced on CNBC on March 31, its covid vaccine was 100% effective in protecting adolescents age 12 to 15 from covid 19.  SIPH hopes to extend vaccination to this age group later this year.    

VACCINATION LOCATIONS

Firth Medical Center is currently giving out the Moderna vaccine.  They can be contacted at [email protected] to schedule an appointment. Do not call.  In your email, provide your full name, birth date, and telephone number. Then, they will then contact you when to come in for the vaccine.  They are at 114 S Main Street, in Firth. 

Shelley Medical Center is giving out the Pfizer vaccine.  They can be contacted at [email protected] or by telephone at (208) 357-7404 to be placed on their waiting list.  They are at 210 S. Emerson, in Shelley. 

Brolium Pharmacy is giving out Moderna.  It also has a waiting list.  They asked you to contact them at (208) 357-0473 and type ZERO to be placed on their list. 

HOW ARE THESE VACCINES GIVEN?

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the Pfizer vaccine is administered in the upper arm in a two-dose series separated by 21 days.  The Moderna vaccine is administered the same way but separated by 28 days.  Both vaccines require two weeks to become fully effective.

WHAT IS IN THESE VACCINES?

Both Pfizer and Moderna are mRNA vaccines. According to an article in Very Well Heath, mRNA is a ubiquitous molecule in the body that acts a lot like post-it notes that tell the cells what to do.  There are approximately 5000 mRNAs in a cell at any given time.  They are transient in that they instruct the cell what to do, and then they disappear.

According to the CDC, SAR-Covid 2 consists of 25 proteins.  One of those proteins is a spike protein.  As antibodies primarily deal with the virus’s surface, scientists centered on the protein that makes up the virus’s surface or the spike protein.  The mRNA from the vaccine enters the body’s cells and tells them to make the spike protein.

“When you are trying to move fast with vaccine development, the most obvious target is to make antibodies that attack the protein on the virus’s surface because antibodies essentially bind to the surface of the virus, cover it and keep it from doing anything,” Croddy said. 

According to the University of Maryland Medical System’s website, the vaccine mRNA molecules are distributed to the body’s cells by lipid nanoparticles. These nanoparticles are necessary to get the mRNA within the cell.

“The big challenges are RNAs are temporary and then get shredded up. So, you got to get it into the cells. So, the trick people figured out over the last couple of years is you can put them in these butter droplets, and those cells will fuse with the body’s cells releasing the NRA in it,” Croddy said.   

In the past, most vaccines had viral proteins that replicate the virus.  The mRNA vaccines have no viral proteins in them.  The reason is a covid vaccine needed to be developed quickly and effectively.  

“The RNA vaccines bypass (the problem of creating viral proteins) in that the manufacturing process is always the same. FDA approval is really fast because each vaccine looks the same. That’s why the mRNA vaccines have gone through Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3 trials so fast and got FDA approval so quickly,” Croddy said.    

HOW EFFECTIVE ARE THE VACCINES?

In a clinical trial, Pfizer says its vaccine was 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 cases with symptoms and 100% effective when it came to preventing severe cases. Moderna cited similar results, with 94% efficacy.

The question is, how effective are these vaccinations against the new UK variant B.1.1.7? 

“The quick answer is the MNRA vaccines work completely fine against that variant,” Crotty said.

However, the current vaccines’ efficacy against the new South African Variant B 1.351 of Covid-19 is unknown. “There is no data to show the mRNA vaccines will work against it. So for people vaccinated with the mRNA vaccine, it makes sense to ask them to wear a mask to avoid the (South African) variant.” Crotty said.

Presently, the health department is recommending the following to slow the spread of the virus. 

• Keeping hands clean and avoiding touching your face unnecessarily.
• Stay home when sick except to seek medical attention.
• Follow all guidance on quarantine and isolation.
• Maintain space between yourself and others not of the same household.
• When not able to distance, wearing a mask correctly.
• Get vaccinated as soon as possible.

“The best results in reducing virus transmission come when all these strategies are done in conjunction with each other,  as no single intervention is perfect at reducing the spread of the virus,” McCulloch said.