Covid-19 Information
From:
"From your Friends at Post 495" <all@PROTECTED>
Subject:
Covid-19 Information
Date:
January 20th 2021
A Member Asked That We send Out This Information
Concerning the Covid-19 Vaccination
Post 495 is Not Suggesting Anyone get the Covid-19 Vaccination
Nor are we Encouraging you to not Get the Covid-19 Vaccination
We are providing what seems to be interesting information about the vaccinaton
Covid-19 Fact's
It's no secret at this point: Two vaccines for COVID-19 are available in the United States. One was
developed by Pfizer and the other by Moderna.
As a scientist, I'm naturally skeptical of EVERYTHING. I admit I had several concerns about these
vaccines, concerns that have been echoed by many people around the world.
A brand new vaccine created for a brand new disease rushed in and out of production? Add in all the
conflicting political rhetoric and my gut reaction was to say "no thanks" and run for the hills!
I did what any scientist would do in this situation: I kept a level head. I read the research, analyzed
the evidence, and drew logical conclusions.
I'll explain it all here in what I hope are simple, easy-to-understand terms. My goal is to help you cut
through all the noise and get to the truth .
The first thing I'll tell you is this: The two vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna are "Messenger
RNA" (mRNA) vaccines. Messenger RNA vaccines are new and revolutionary compared to traditional
methods of vaccination.
But what does that mean? Let's break it down, bit by bit.
Here are the 5 key points we're going to discuss:
• What are antibodies and antigens?
• How do traditional vaccines work?
• How are mRNA vaccines different?
• Do the COVID-19 vaccines work?
• Are the COVID-19 vaccines safe?
Let's dig in ...
What are antibodies and antigens?
There are microbes (more commonly known as "germs") EVERYWHERE. In the air you breathe. In
the food you eat. On your toes. In your mouth.
Not all these microbes are bad . Some are quite nice! Some are just kinda there. Some are
PATHOGENS.
Pathogens are infectious microbes that can cause disease. Pathogens can be viruses, bacteria,
parasites, or even fungi.
Each pathogen has its own unique antigen. An antigen is almost like a pathogen's ID card.
Meanwhile, antibodies are like your body's security guards. They check the IDs (antigens) of
incoming microbes. Antibodies are proteins that identify and neutralize threats to your body.
When a pathogen enters your body with a never-before-seen antigen, your body doesn't recognize
the threat right away. It takes time for your body to develop antibodies capable of recognizing the
antigen and neutralizing the threat. During that time, you get sick.
Once you have antibodies that recognize the antigen of a particular pathogen, you become immune
to that pathogen. Unfortunately, some pathogens evolve VERY rapidly, developing new antigens your
body doesn't recognize. This can cause you to become repeatedly ill with similar diseases or get
repeat vaccinations. Cold and flu viruses are prime examples of this.
How do traditional vaccines work?
Traditional vaccines inject a weakened or inactive part of a pathogen into your body. This way,
your body has time to recognize the threat and develop antibodies without you getting sick ... Or at
least that's the idea.
It works well the majority of the time, but there are cases of people reporting symptoms after getting a
vaccine. These symptoms are typically minor compared to the full-blown disease, however.
This method of preventing disease is often credited to Edward Jenner. Jenner was a British scientist
who discovered a way to prevent smallpox in 1796. He didn't exactly use a "vaccine" in the way we
think of them today. There was no needle and no solution developed at a lab. Instead, he exposed
people to cowpox. Cowpox was a virus similar to smallpox, but weaker. Jenner found that exposure
to cowpox prevented people from getting smallpox.
There's evidence that similar "vaccination" methods were used throughout the world long before
Jenner. Still, the idea was the same: Introduce the body to a weakened or inactive pathogen in order
to develop immunity without getting sick.
In the 200+ years since Jenner's discovery, scientists have continued to study and improve methods
of vaccination. Thanks to vaccines, herd immunity to diseases is possible. After thousands of years
not having herd immunity to smallpox, vaccines completely eliminated it in 1980. We're very close to
eradicating polio as well.
The near-elimination of polio is particularly noteworthy because-like COVID-19-there
are many asymptomatic cases that make it difficult to trace.
How are mRNA vaccines different than traditional vaccines?
Unlike traditional vaccines, Messenger RNA vaccines do NOT contain a weakened or inactive
part of a pathogen. This includes the COVID-19 vaccines.
I'll say that again: The COVID-19 vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer do NOT contain
any part of the coronavirus-or any other virus, for that matter.
So how do they work then?
Well, let's talk about what RNA is ...
Your body's cells contain DNA. This DNA is code for how your body works. Like a script or blueprint.
This code gets copied into RNA messages. The RNA messages get translated into proteins that
do various jobs.
Imagine a construction blueprint for an entire city. The blueprint contains instructions for where to
pave streets, where to build City Hall, where to build police and fire departments, commercial districts,
residential districts, a sewage system, power lines, etc, etc ...
There are foremen who supervise all the different construction projects. These foremen read the
blueprint and give directions to the construction workers.
In this comparison, YOU are the city. The blueprint is your DNA. The foremen are RNA
messengers. The construction workers are proteins.
Now remember, I mentioned earlier that antibodies are proteins ...
The job of these particular proteins is to recognize and neutralize threats to your body. In the city
metaphor, they're your body's police officers.
A Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine sends a message to your body's cells to create antibody
proteins that recognize a pathogen's antigen. Once those antibodies are created, your body's cells
throw those instructions in the trash.
Quite frankly, mRNA vaccines are a remarkable scientific achievement. The speed with which the
COVID-19 vaccines were created is particularly impressive.
In order to do this, scientists had to sequence the genome of the COVID-19 virus. Coronavirus is a bit
of a weirdo in that it has no DNA. It only has RNA, which is common among viruses. Scientists then
studied the RNA and identified which messages do what. Once they identified the RNA message
responsible for creating a protein that acts as an antigen, they knew what to put in the vaccine.
The beauty of vaccination by this method is that your own body creates the antigen. Your body
follows the instructions of the RNA message to create the antigen itself. It is then able to develop
antibodies trained to recognize and neutralize that antigen.
This way, your body can achieve immunity without ever being exposed to the virus at all, not even in
vaccine form.
That's not the only good thing about mRNA vaccines either ... Other advantages include:
• Shorter manufacture times, allowing for fast,mass-production like we're seeing with the
COVID-19 vaccines. This also allows for faster clinical testing.
• Potential to vaccinate for several diseases at once. If you have kids, you know the first
years of life are full of needle pokes. Soldiers also feel a whole bunch of vaccine needles
before heading overseas. This may be reduced as mRNA vaccination technology continues to
advance.
• Potential for fighting cancer. In the future, scientists may even be able to send RNA
messages into your body to attack cancer cells. I won't call it a "cure" just yet, but boy do I
have hope.
Do the COVID-19 vaccines work?
To answer this question , I'll go into details about the clinical trials ...
Trials for the Pfizer vaccine involved 44,000 people in the United States, Brazil, and Argentina. Half
received the vaccine; half received the placebo. The placebo is a harmless imitation that lacks any
therapeutic value beyond the psychological effects of thinking you received the vaccine.
Each half included participants that varied widely in age, race, weight, and other factors.
The clinical trials observed that new cases of COVID-19 tapered off 10 days after the first dose. The
efficacy after this first dose was observed to be 52%.
The hope was the second dose would provide a major long-term boost in immunity, as is the case
with several other vaccines. Clinical trials found the efficacy to leap to 95% after the second
dose.
These results were consistent across all age groups, races, and body types. This is a promising sign,
as we've all seen that CO VI D-19 is more severe for different groups.
The Moderna vaccine underwent a similar process, involving 30,420 volunteers in the United States.
Half received two doses of the vaccine; the other half received two doses of a placebo.
These trials found the incidence of symptomatic COVID-19 to be 94.1%-95.2% less common in
people who received the vaccine compared to the placebo.
So to answer the question as to whether the vaccines work: Scientific data suggests COVID-19
vaccines work just fine for the vast majority of people. This is consistent with the efficacy of most
other vaccines.
Are the COVID-19 vaccines safe?
Let's go back to the scientific data ...
When the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) reviewed the results of the clinical trials, they found
there to be no major issues, including adverse effects. Many people who were vaccinated
experienced fatigue, headaches, and a few other minor side effects that only lasted a day.
One of the concerns many people have about the CO VI D-19 vaccines is the speed with which they
were developed. There is a natural fear that corners were cut in the usual safety regulations.
According to the CDC, the COVID-19 vaccines were "held to the same rigorous safety and
effectiveness standards as all other types of vaccines in the United States." <<I've embedded a link to
the exact "safety and effectiveness standards" they're talking about.
Allergic reactions to the vaccine are an issue that did not arise in clinical trials. Some people
experienced allergic reactions in the large-scale rollout since.
Despite how widely publicized these allergic reactions are, they are very rare.
32.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in 45 countries. Out of all those
doses, there are only 29 documented cases of allergic reactions.
There are plenty of other safety claims (and myths) circulating the internet. I'll break them down one
by one here:
Are there "microchips" or "nanotransmitters" in COVID-19 vaccines?
This is a conspiracy theory related to comments by Bill Gates about a "digital certificate of vaccine
records." Despite the widely circulated misinterpretation, he was NOT referring to microchips.
He was referring to electronic documentation, much like having access to car insurance documents
on your cell phone. The conversation in which "digital certificates" were mentioned wasn't even
related to vaccines.
If government tracking is your concern, rest assured that the government has plenty of ways to track
us without the help of micro-chipped vaccines. The device you're using to read this is one of them.
Will the COVID-19 vaccines (and other mRNA vaccines) alter my DNA?
I'll be honest with you: This was what freaked ME out the most about these vaccines! The vaccines
involve injecting synthetically created copies of a foreign organism's genetic material into your body's
cells. That sounds scary!
However, the nucleus of your cells houses your DNA. The RNA messages contained in the
vaccine never enter the nucleus of your cells, so they cannot affect your DNA.
Earlier in this piece, I mentioned that your body throws the RNA messages into the trash after it
creates the antigen and antibodies. This is true for ALC.. RNA messages, including the ones your body
creates on its own.
Once RNA messages have been read and the appropriate proteins created, your body no longer
needs them. RNA then degrades very quickly after, as your body's cells are remarkably smart and
efficient.
Do the COVID-19 vaccines cause infertility or increase the risk for miscarriage?
Another one of the more widely circulated claims on the internet is that antibodies designed to
recognize and attack the COVID-19 antigen will bind to placental proteins and prevent pregnancy.
There is no scientific evidence of this whatsoever. In fact, there has never been any virus or
vaccine that has caused infertility.
However, there's plenty of evidence to the contrary. More than 50,000 pregnant women in the
United States have been sickened by COVID-19. While it is known that pregnant women are at a
higher risk for a severe experience with COVID-19, there has NOT been an increase in miscarriage
rates among those sickened.
IF the antibodies created by vaccines caused an increased risk for miscarriage, we would already see
an increase in miscarriage rates among those infected by COVID-19, as the antibodies are the same.
Since there is NOT an increase in miscarriage rates among those infected, it's safe to assume the
vaccine won't cause an increase either.
We can turn to the vaccine trials for further evidence. During the Pfizer vaccine trials, 23 participants
became pregnant. Only one suffered a miscarriage-and she was in the placebo group, so she did
not receive the vaccine.
What if I'm allergic to eggs?
Many traditional vaccines use egg cells in development. This sometimes causes people with egg
allergies to have reactions. Fortunately, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines do NOT contain any
egg cells and egg cells were NOT used in development.
Closing Thoughts
Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines have been extensively studied and tested for decades. The
CO VI D-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer and Mode rna are the first to become widely available.
Not only do they help us see the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, they represent a
remarkable step forward in medicine. This achievement may open the gates for safer and more
efficient vaccination in the future. They may even help fight cancer one day.
I didn't write this piece with the intention of convincing you to get vaccinated. Rather, I wanted to arm
you with as much vital information as necessary (or ''Everything You Need to Know") to make an
informed decision for yourself.
That being said , I'll close with this one final thought: The COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer
and Moderna are more effective than flu vaccines at preventing a disease that's deadlier than
the flu.
Sources:
• https :1/www. who. i nt/news-room/featu re-stories/detai 1/h ow-do-vaccines-work
• https :1/www. cdc. gov /coronavi ru s/20 19-ncov /vaccines/different -vacci nes/m RNA. htm I
• https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/hcp/mrna-vaccine-basics.html
• https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/additives.htm
• https :1/hartfordhealthcare .org/about -us/news-press/news-deta i l?articleid=304 72&pu blicl d =395
• https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-qlobal-distribution/
• https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04368728
• https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04283461
CORONAVIRUS, VACC.NfS, COVoD 19
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