After months of trials, the first coronavirus vaccines are expected to be approved by the federal government in the coming days. Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday laid out the initial steps in Minnesota’s vaccination plan, with the earliest doses likely to arrive as soon as next week. Here are answers to questions you may have about vaccines and the state’s strategy to vaccinate millions of Minnesotans.
Which are the most promising coronavirus vaccine candidates right now?
While more than 50 vaccine candidates have progressed to clinical trials with humans, two front-runners have emerged. A vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is first in line for review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this month, and another produced by Moderna will be considered a week later. A third vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca could be ready for review in early 2021.
How will they work?
The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines use messenger RNA to instruct cells to create a harmless piece of the virus that causes COVID-19. This piece of “spike protein” is a key feature of the virus (you’ve likely seen COVID-19 depicted as a spiky ball). The body recognizes this spike protein as foreign and triggers an immune response to fend off future infection. Continue reading.