How the RNA Vaccine Works

For trepkos and everyone else...

Watch on YouTube

Rob Swanda
184 subscribers
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.


There is a lot more information I wanted to cover, such as the immunity length over time, side effects, and non-mRNA vaccine technologies. We could discuss this for hours. But, the focus here is on the technology itself.


I do use some technical terms, please find them defined below. Im happy to hear questions and comments. Thank you for taking a little time to learn about RNA! 🧬


(technical terms: 3’UTR/5’UTR = untranslated regions of the mRNA that do not code for the protein but aid in stability. Lipid = fat molecule. Ribosome = cell machinery that makes proteins from mRNA. Macrophage = a white blood cell in our body that responds to infection. Antigen = foreign protein that antibodies detect.)


***Edits to two mistakes made: 1) the 5’ & 3’ UTRs are reversed 2) the T-Cell will destroy an incoming virus not macrophage

Courtesy of a trustworthy Canadian social media friend on FB. (aka ponygirl2000 on LJ and DW).

Day #268 (I think...I may be losing count again)

The things that keep me going, day in and day out...are talks with my mother, and talks with my niece over the phone. Interactive chats with folks on GH fan board on FB. Interactions with you all...television, audio books, walks around my neighborhood, and the birds, cats, and squirrels frolicking outside my window.

Plus trees. Mustn't forget trees.



FB is weird. I was down to 120-126 friends, now all of a sudden I have 131.
I haven't accepted any new friends requests. Did they just all pop back?

Granted all I'm really posting are pictures of a graveyard, and occasional posts from NY Times.

I'm tired of our nasty toxic political environment.
( Read more... )

New York vs. the Corona Virus

Oh well there is good news in regards to New York's on-going and never-ending fight against the Corona Virus.

Per the Governor's email and briefing, they approved the vaccine finally. The White House basically bullied the FDA into approving it a week or two early. ( Read more... )

It was an interesting press conference. In that we had all these talking heads via Zoom, that no one but the Governor really knew or cared about.
Then when it came for questions - there was a sizable delay due to technical issues. The Governor got antsy - his patience may well be at its end.
[Although to be fair this is true of everyone at the moment - we're all snappish and irritable. I've noticed that it's been mentioned more than once on FB that people are more touchy and quicker to over-reacting at the moment. Also work - there's an underlying irritability. It's the holidays. Everyone is cooped up. No end in sight. The election won't end. COVID won't end. Both seem to be getting worse. And it's getting darker each day, colder, and we can't visit family or go anywhere to escape it. Cabin Fever plus Christmas holiday season...bleach.]

I was laughing at him.

Governor: so no questions. Cool.
Operator: We actually have a question from Laura from NBC.
Governor: Okay. (somewhat disappointed.)

[Long pause.] Governor stares bleakly at the empty room. He probably misses seeing the reporters.

Governor: Operator? Operator? Operator!
Operator: Sorry, we are experiencing technical difficulties, if you will give us a minute.
Governor (sighs), turns to his secretary: So is it our side or their side experiencing technical difficulties or do we know?
[I don't know if she said anything or not.]
Governor: Technology, wonderful when it works..

Another long fifteen minute pause. Governor audibly scratches his pen against his pad twice.

Finally we get the questions...

And then at that moment? Mother calls and I have turn it off.

Me: So I was watching the Governor, but all is well here. I even got another package from you today. It was -
Mother: You need to make sure you buckle your pants. And it's probably good if you button them first.
Me: Okay, that's nice but I don't have a buckle.
Mother: Are you standing up? Look make sure you buckle your pants before you stand up.
Me: And I'm just talking to myself...
Mother: Sorry, your father was fine, now he's decided to stand up. And I'm afraid his pants are going to fall down. I don't know why he's decided to get up now -
Me: Probably got bored. Like you got bored. You called me. Dad decided to get up and wander about.
Mother: Unfortunately - look I think he's going to go pee, can't tell. Can I call you back?

So I went back to the Governor, and mother called again. So I put the Governor on mute and close caption. When we were done, I unmuted the Governor and watched the end of the news conference. The poor Governor was on for an hour and a half.

( Governor's Email... )

Crazy Workplace

We now have on-site testing at various work locations. (Not that I'm near any of them. I'm still working remotely off of an 13 inch Macbook Pro. You can all applaud later.]

And on-site flu testing. [Already did that.]

And they are buying air purifiers for the areas where people have to come in to work and are indoors. [Not exactly sure how effective that is.]

I want to avoid where I work - it's on Long Island. Long Island isn't safe, it's populated by fascist idiots or mutant zombies. Take your pick.

New York City = Safe
Long Island? Suffolk County? Avoid like the plague, no pun intended, no I take that back - pun completely intended.

The World Vs the Virus

Per the NY Times Coronavirus briefing, which I get by email every night. They kind of take a breather on the weekends.
( Read more... )

Also...( Christmas in 1918 )

The Amazon boxes are starting to stack up in my apartment. This means unpacking and putting up miniature or dwarf fake Christmas trees, plus wrapping or placing wrapped gifts under or around said trees may be in order.

Either that, or I could build myself a fort and barricade myself in my apartment. Although I kind of feel like I've been doing that already.

Did have a mini-conversation with a petite black woman, wearing a hat and scarf, and of course a mask, in the meat aisle about whether or not to by the minature and semi-expensive filet mignons.
( Read more... )

I have mini-conversations with folks - not long enough to be a problem, and fully masked. And with a cart of a distance between us. But still. We've been unable to socialize for so long now - that we kind of enjoy it. And we're all a little depressed and irritable. Also apartment lobby has become package central. I try to pick up mine immediately - mainly because I know people steal.

Later, after I made myself spinach/feta sausage, brocolli rabe, mushrooms, and asian pear, acorn squash, apple, raisin and onion curry - I called niece. (I'd also had some wine and a cocktail.) We had a long conversation about Buffy - in which I explained that it was hard for her to understand how ground breaking it was - because back then the things it did were kind of insane. No one had done that before. While now, it's kind of either dated or expected.

She's watching "Skins" on Hulu.
( Read more... )

Ah well...with that a good night.