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m_d_hThe Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use a new technology called "messenger RNA" or mRNA.
They've manufactured these little bits of RNA that look like they've been created by human DNA with a little message attached to each bit that signals to the cell's factory: build this protein, please.
The protein the factory builds looks like the "spikes" on the outside of a COVID virus. These spikes then "bud" on the surface of your cell, and your immune system sees these spikes and says, "FUCK NO, THAT AIN'T HUMAN" and then builds antibodies to get rid of the spikes. When you later encounter real COVID viruses, your immune system is already geared up to attack their spikes.
But the cute bit of these new vaccines is how they get the mRNA into your cells. They wrap the mRNA inside little balls of fat, they call these balls of fat "lipid nanoparticles". Think of them as spherical globs of butter, as if you've just eaten a butter-slathered bagel, and your bloodstream is full of little globs of butter, and your cells are all going, YUM BUTTER YUM, WE MUST EAT THEM. So your cells happily engulf these little butterballs, and gleefully digest them, releasing the mRNA which directs their cellular factories to make COVID-like spikes.
It's genius! I hope the real viruses don't figure out how to make themselves look like spherical globs of butter.
They've manufactured these little bits of RNA that look like they've been created by human DNA with a little message attached to each bit that signals to the cell's factory: build this protein, please.
The protein the factory builds looks like the "spikes" on the outside of a COVID virus. These spikes then "bud" on the surface of your cell, and your immune system sees these spikes and says, "FUCK NO, THAT AIN'T HUMAN" and then builds antibodies to get rid of the spikes. When you later encounter real COVID viruses, your immune system is already geared up to attack their spikes.
But the cute bit of these new vaccines is how they get the mRNA into your cells. They wrap the mRNA inside little balls of fat, they call these balls of fat "lipid nanoparticles". Think of them as spherical globs of butter, as if you've just eaten a butter-slathered bagel, and your bloodstream is full of little globs of butter, and your cells are all going, YUM BUTTER YUM, WE MUST EAT THEM. So your cells happily engulf these little butterballs, and gleefully digest them, releasing the mRNA which directs their cellular factories to make COVID-like spikes.
It's genius! I hope the real viruses don't figure out how to make themselves look like spherical globs of butter.