#i can’t believe she’s nearly 3 now. still a human petri dish though <3

[fingertipsmp3]

At least I can cling to the fact that no matter how bad things get, it’s not October 2021 anymore

[chaoskirin]

The CoViD Vaccine

I first posted this to facebook because of the high number of anti-vaxxers on the media. But I figured I’d post it here, too. This is a quick study of why the CoViD-19 vaccine was developed so quickly and why it’s likely safe. Sources at the bottom of the post.

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Part 1: Why was the CoViD vaccine developed so quickly while other vaccines take years?

Some people cite the inability to produce an HIV/AIDS vaccine after so long as a justification for stating that the CoViD vaccine could not possibly be developed in such a short time. However, there's a very good reason with the HIV/AIDS vaccine is taking so long, and it's found in the genetic makeup of the virus.

HIV is a strange virus, in that it completes its cycle insanely fast (within 24 hours in some cases) and because of this, it's prone to mutations. Because little to nothing was done about the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, the virus was allowed to spread, unchecked, rapidly mutating and developing into HUNDREDS of strains.

You know how we have to get a new flu shot every year because the virus has mutated into something new? That's HIV, but instead of a new strain appearing once a year, a new strain can appear in the course of one single viral generation. When HIV is transmitted to someone else, it may already be a slightly different virus than it was in the transmitter. This means that a vaccine developed to work in the person who transmitted the virus would not work for the newly-infected person.

That's why, at this point in time, antiretrovirals (drugs that disrupt the replication of the virus by preventing it from attaching to RNA) actually work better than a vaccine.

As well, HIV/AIDS specifically attacks the immune system, hampering any efforts at strong immune response. That is, by the time a vaccinated immune system recognizes the virus as a threat, it has already destroyed part of the immune system AND mutated itself, meaning the even a vaccine that would otherwise work can no longer be effective. This is a known phenomenon called "immune exhaustion."

Lastly, HIV is really good at hiding from detection as a dormant phase of the viral particles (called provirus) can remain within cells for years before lysing from/destroying the cells they're inside. And HIV creates these provirus particles every single cycle, which means even if a vaccine is developed and destroys all free-floating viral particles, the dormant particles will always be around to start a new phase of infection, once again leading to immune exhaustion.

In the case of HIV, the hope of a vaccination lay within the blood of people with a natural immunity to HIV, which is a brand new frontier of vaccine development that is poorly understood.

Conversely, CoViD-19 does have a semi-quick mutation rate, but not as fast as HIV. It was also immediately taken seriously by medical professionals, and the development of the vaccine started soon after the virus's discovery. Unlike HIV, CoViD does NOT attack the immune system (instead, it triggers a massive immune response called a cytokine storm) and it also does not hide undetected within cells. (...Probably. We are still learning about the virus.)

 Part 2: Genome Mapping

First, it's important to note that data sharing and sequencing equipment is much more sophisticated than it used to be. This means that several labs can work on the genetic mapping of CoViD at the same time, and share that data in real time. Powerful software allowed the geneticists to connect the various strands of viral RNA gathered from patients presenting with the virus, and it was quickly determined that CoViD-19 (AKA SARS-CoV-2) was remarkably similar to SARS-CoV years before. The viruses share between 88%-90% of the same genetic code; some scholars refer to both viruses as the same "species."

The full method used to determine the genome can be found here: https://www.thelancet.com/.../PIIS0140-6736(20.../fulltext (very long, but pretty cool!)

During the sequencing, it was also determined that while CoViD-19 showed mutations between each case, the faithfulness of the virus to the control was about 99%--suggesting that it was mutating slower than expected. This meant that a quick response could prevent the evolution of the virus to a point where vaccines would be ineffective. While there are multiple strains of CoViD-19, it's likely that they are all currently very similar.

The genome also showed that, like SARS from years past, the CoVid-19 virus contained the same protein receptor--known as ACE2--which had already been studied. The receptor (or spike, as it's called) is what allows the virus to bind to a host cell and release its RNA.

Other factors to consider that are related to the genome mapping itself is that the COST of mapping is far less than it has been in the past, and it also faster and more accurate. Development of vaccines for other diseases (such as chicken pox and HPV) were often hampered by cost, time, and inaccuracy. Conversely, every time the CoViD-19 virus was mapped, the resulting data was nearly the same.

In short, one of the hindrances to vaccine production is often the genome mapping. It's impossible to create a vaccine without knowing the full details of the virus, as a vaccine's purpose is to produce an immune response. That's essentially tricking the immune system into believing it's fighting a virus. The hardest part of vaccine development for CoViD-19 is already done, and it was done in record time.

Part 3: Messenger RNA and synthetic RNA

Before discussing the vaccine, I need to talk about what messenger ribonucleic acid (AKA mRNA) is.

When a cell splits, it needs to make an EXACT copy of its DNA for both cells. Because DNA is fairly complicated, it can't just split in half like the rest of the cell. It needs a set of instructions, which is where transcription comes in.

An enzyme called RNA polymerase makes a near-exact copy of the DNA strand, except for the nucleotide thymine, which is found in DNA, is transcribed as Uracil on the mRNA strand. A lot of stuff happens after that, but the important part is that this mRNA strand is read by ribosomes and TRANSLATED into proteins.

There's... a lot more to it than that, but that's the basic gist.

Which takes us to the question: What is an mRNA vaccine?

It's taken a long time to develop synthetic mRNA. Katalin Karikó, a Hungarian scientist, believed messenger RNA could be harnessed to create all sorts of disease resistances, but the synthetic material was quickly identified and destroyed by the body's immune system.

Because Karikó was experimenting with an idea that other scientists had dismissed as impossible, it took her FIFTEEN YEARS to create something with such promise that she finally received grants to further her work. It wasn't until 2005 that Karikó discovered a way to trick the immune system into NOT immediately attacking the synthetic RNA.

Only 15 years ago. And even then, because many of Karikó's peers had already dismissed messenger RNA as a valid medical tool, it took them a long time to get them on board, and research crawled forward and a snail's pace.

Her accomplishments DID interest a post-doc named Derrick Rossi, who successfully used the synthetic RNA to create proteins in a petri dish out of various polypeptides. Most interestingly, an introduced immune contingent would ignore the mRNA, as if it was supposed to be there.

It was this work, in 2010, that made Rossi realize that mRNA could be used to create vaccines.

This inkling of an idea required "proof of concept" in order to receive funding for further research--which was slow in coming. Any new technology, even discoveries that are microscopic, carries risks, and it turned out that repeated doses of mRNA could produce unwanted side-effects. It wasn't until 2018 that Moderna (which should be a familiar name to everyone by now!) Developed a two-dose therapy that would not produce significant negative effects in humans.

Just in time, too. CoViD-19 appeared in 2019. And while Moderna, Pfizer, and several other companies had been experimenting with mRNA as a vessel for vaccines, nothing had yet been approved for use.

Remember when I talked about the genetic map of CoViD-19 in my last post? With that, scientists creating an mRNA vaccine did not actually need the virus in order to work on the vaccine. All they needed was the genome--and they could then synthesize RNA, which could then be used to build the protein shell of the virus, producing an immune response.

Unfortunately, companies developing the vaccines came under fire for essentially using the promise of a save, synthetic material to fill their coffers. But of course, that's capitalism, and that's a different story.

But essentially, rather than a traditionally-created vaccine which uses dead or modified live viruses, an mRNA vaccine has never touched a virus, has never been injected into an animal in order to synthesize more vaccine, and is able to be ready-made in a lab using messenger RNA.

Of course there is concern about possible long-term effects of this new type of vaccine. The cool thing about mRNA, though, is built into its very code. After it does what it's supposed to do (in the case of the CoViD vaccine, that job is "building a viral envelope that contains no actual viral RNA," it self-destructs. That's why it has to be stored at such low temperatures. anything higher than that and you'd have what's essentially a slurry of random synthesized polypeptides that wouldn't do a damn thing.

So the worry isn't really whether there will be long-term effects from this vaccine, but whether the synthetic mRNA will be able to survive long enough to produce enough fake virus shells to create an immune response. So far, trials have proved successful.

Part 4: Polio, and Why Most Vaccines Are So Extensively Tested

There's a good reason that the FDA requires such extensive, lengthy testing on vaccines, and it has to do with the polio vaccine.

I'm sure most opponents of vaccination cite the early polio vaccine as a reason not to vaccinate--that vaccines are inherently dangerous and should be approached with caution.

Trials of the polio vaccine went well, and were well-tolerated, which meant scientists were initially baffled when a vaccine caused 40,000 cases of polio in children, 200 of which were left paralyzed, and 10 of which died.

At first, people were convinced that this meant vaccines were dangerous--many blamed Jonas Salk for pushing the vaccine through R&D and dooming everyone who'd gotten the vaccine to polio.

So what happened? Did dangerous chemicals in the vaccine cause a weak immune system leading to polio? Was the process itself flawed? Was it time to give up on vaccines as a valid form of disease protection???

Fortunately, no.

Just like today, there were many nay-sayers about vaccines, and those who were against putting them into their body. See, Salk used formaldehyde to de-activate the virus, which people recognized as being very poisonous. despite the fact that the vaccine itself contained none of the chemical, the public demanded an alternative if they were to take it.

So a company called Cutter Labs decided not to use formaldehyde to deactivate the vaccine. In fact, they didn't de-activate the vaccine at all. Because of a lack of rigorous safety protocol at the time, the error was then missed by health inspectors, who ok'd giving a completely live virus to 40,000 children.

This incident, called the Cutter Incident, led to more rigorous oversight and testing when it came to vaccination. It also let to what's called "attunated" viruses, which are weakened, but still living viruses. These attunated viruses have been responsible for outbreaks of poliomyelitis around the world, all because people feared the process used to kill the virus.

The point is, the reason it takes so long to approve vaccines under normal circumstances is that you are dealing with a medication that contains actual viruses (albeit usually dead viruses) plus agents designed to provoke an immune response, such as aluminum. Deactivated vaccines also used to contain thimerosal as a binding agent preservative. While not elemental mercury, thimerosal was derived from mercury, and thus just as suspect as Salk's formaldehyde.

In any case, there's a lot of people concerned about what they are putting into their bodies. And while the use of aluminum adjuvants has been proven safe over decades of vaccinations, every single one still must be tested in order to determine efficacy and safety. Pushing a vaccine that doesn't work is just as bad as pushing a vaccine that causes harm to the patient.

To be fair, it is likely the alum compound that causes vaccine reactions, which means it's up to medical science to do better! Thankfully there are many new adjuvants on the market, including MF59, an oil emulsion which is derived from shark liver; most people consider this a much better option than heavy metal, and it is the most likely candidate for use as an adjuvant in the CoViD-19 vaccine.

If, that is, an adjuvant is needed at all. Currently, there's some speculation that the mRNA in the CoViD vaccine could alone provoke a strong immune response.

Part 5: Putting it all together!

1. Coronavirus was caught quickly and an immediate medical response was established. Using new genetic mapping technology that has only been developed within the last decade, CoViD-19's genome was mapped and made available.

2. CoViD-19 does not hide in, nor does it attack the immune system. For this reason, it's much easier to create an immune response to a vaccine as compared to, say, the HIV virus. Unlike the HIV virus and the common cold, CoViD-19 also currently has limited strains and mutations, making it the perfect time to create a vaccine.

3. The vaccine does not use viral particles. It doesn't need to be "incubated" and then tested after each incubation period. There is no chance for the vaccine to cause the virus in any dose. Instead, it uses synthetic messenger RNA in prompt the body into synthesizing the protein shell of the virus, which activates our immune system.

4. It contains a natural adjuvant found in shark liver oil, rather than heavy metal aluminum. This cuts down on the testing time. Adjuvants provoke an immune response more quickly than the virus alone, although Pfizer stated that the vaccine would likely work without one.

5. Lastly, this can't be overstated enough, the idea behind testing is to have a successful trial in as many people as possible. Other vaccines fail because of unfavorable trials. (For example, chicken pox took so long to develop a vaccine for because of the lack of technologies we had today leading to low efficacy rates in test subjects.) Compared with the MMR vaccine, which has an average efficacy of 90%, the CoViD-19 vaccine achieved a 95% efficacy rate in 10 months. There was very little "back to the drawing board" except in one case where the company developing a vaccine trial dropped completely.

I do want to state here that it is normal for medical science to work faster and better as time progresses. Vaccine science IS medical science, and has only been utilized for the last hundred years. All medical sciences progress and become more reliable as time goes on, including heart transplants, treatment of HIV, diabetes, hell--even Alzimers may have a cure in the next decade thanks to various breakthroughs in the last three years.

It is okay to be cautious. It is not okay to dismiss science because you're afraid or because you don't understand it. It's okay to ask for help learning about these things.

We science people aren't here to lie to you. We look forward to a future where serious disease is a simple hindrance, and not a life-changing event.

  Sources:

https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/covid-19-how-unprecedented-data-sharing-has-led-faster-ever-outbreak-research.html?fbclid=IwAR2V_HfDaloTaNfBJ489f1fmdsBbWaYp5j72d3AYo9roKJNaiUATkYc3rA8

https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/resources/COVID-19/COVID-19-fact-sheets/200128-nCoV-whitepaper.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3p00yVtK16aduVIF5LV6dgetFEuho4CoxX7ifmVlDcSSPei6p79IyNzpQ

https://www.verywellhealth.com/hiv-vaccine-development-4057071

https://www.statnews.com/2020/11/10/the-story-of-mrna-how-a-once-dismissed-idea-became-a-leading-technology-in-the-covid-vaccine-race/?fbclid=IwAR0brQXhvrs4pMp9AwXOU5KT0z1B-VsbMn8R3RS65Hv_gLqo5gButRTftyg

https://www.jpost.com/health-science/could-an-mrna-vaccine-be-dangerous-in-the-long-term-649253?fbclid=IwAR1MM2vpKrUucLGwEb2T5OZAADMFp3oABJFTcG5F8xDfPfykx5gGwZIWHaE

(And apparently I forgot to save my sources about adjuvants. :|)

[tokyoteddywolf]

A Blue CatAstrophe Ch.4

Oh my, another chapter already? Enjoy!~

Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3

Lance woke up on Shiro's chest, blearily realizing he'd stretched out during the night. Oh yeah, he'd come in when Blue had told him Black was trying to wake  Shiro up from a bad dream, and needed physical help because he was too deep in. So, he'd headed for Shiro's room at a dead run and jumped up on him, accidentally landing on his stomach. Well, it had worked, because Shiro had suddenly sat up with a yelp and nearly thwacked Lance with his arm, but he'd managed to duck and roll onto the other side of the bed next to the wall before he could get thrown.

He'd panicked when the usually calm and serious leader of Voltron started crying. He allowed his instincts to take charge, brushing his tail over Shiro's arm to get his attention, and doing his best to comfort the Black Paladin as best he could as a tiny kitten. The nose boop was sort of a kitty kiss, he supposed, and flushed when he thought about it. It had just seemed... right, and it had made Shiro smile, so he took that for a win. Speaking of Shiro, it was nearly 7am as he glanced over to the little digital Earth clock Pidge had made for the Black Paladin, which meant-

Yup. There it is. Shiro's alarm rang throughout the room, causing him to slowly stir and blink those pretty, sleepy silver eyes open. Lance mewed a good morning and walked up those firm pecs to pat Shiro's cheek with a warm paw pad. Blue rumbled with amusement at his thoughts, and he shushed her back, because it wasn't his fault that Shiro was very nicely muscled. Blue laughed.

“Mm… Mornin' Azul.” Shiro muttered, reaching up with his human hand to stroke Lance's ears. Man, that felt good. Lance purred and leaned into the touch, tail twitching happily. Shiro picked him up and moved to sit up, still rubbing Lance's ears and head with his fingers, since Lance was barely big enough to fill out Shiro's cupped hands while curled up in a ball, meaning one hand dwarfed Lance's skull.

There was a knock on the door, and Pidge's voice floated through. “Shiro! Come on, we gotta go look for clues today!” The Green Paladin informed their leader, voice holding traces of anxiety for what they might find. Riiiight… his team didn't know what had happened to him. He was still slightly apprehensive about letting them know he was a cat, since he still believed they only saw him as the team joke… Then again, his vanishing act had really done a number on morale, what with Pidge's breakdown yesterday and Shiro crying last night, and he knew Hunk was upset, but he remembered bits and pieces of Allura and Coran looking devastated, and Keith being all mopey and emo. Maybe they really did care…?

He was startled out of his thoughts by Shiro setting Lance to the side, onto the pillow, and watched the team leader walk over to his dresser to get proper clothes on. Lance was gone as soon as the shirt disappeared. He did not want to see a naked Shiro while a cat, that was not how it was supposed to work. So he wandered off to see Allura in the main control room, tail swishing as he conversed with Blue about his transformation.

He got lots of concern and frustrated confusion from their bond, and growled quietly. Blue figured it was the plant dust he'd inhaled, and he thought back to the moment he'd started choking. He'd seen that plant before, but where? Why was it familiar? Green with a faint silver sheen, skinny branches, coarse-toothed leaves and white and purple spotted flowers… he knows he's seen it somewhere! Blue was searching through her Earth database for something similar to that description, but that would take a while.

“Hello, Azul! Nice to see you up and about!” Oh, he'd reached the control room. He meowed hello at Coran, and jumped up to rest in the ginger Altean's arms, who caught him rather impressively. “My, you jump as well as an Altean dartung!” What the quiznak was a dart tongue? “Pidge says that they sound a lot like your Earth frogs, if the information she gave me was correct.” Coran explained as he moved over to his control panel, allowing Lance to crawl up his clothes to curl himself over the mustached man's neck and shoulders. Well, that explained it.

Allura bid him a good morning, and gave him a quick rub behind the ears before moving towards the star chart. She closed it as the other Paladins filed in, everyone already dressed in Paladin armor. “Well, the Kolkarians have agreed to the alliance against Zarkon. They've also granted us permission to search their planet for Lance as well, though they warn us to be cautious of the forest, as many a Kolkarian have wandered in and never returned. So, unless absolutely necessary, do not stray from the ice patch you said you found Blue at. Keep your masks up at all times, and be wary of everything that moves aside from yourselves.” Allura commanded the team, getting a “Yes Ma'am!” in return. “Alright, let's move out team. We have a big area to comb, so we'll have to split up. I'll detail the plan over the comms. We can't waste any time, Lance could be hurt and sitting here isn't going to help.” Shiro said as they all moved to their respective elevators that led to the ziplines. Lance mewed at them, he was right there, but they were already gone.

Allura sighed and plopped down onto one of the common room couches, tired. So far, no luck, and Blue kept giving her images of a large green tree covered in white flowers with lilac spots insistently. She figured it was the last place where Lance had been, but only got sadness and grief when she pressed this question to the Lion he had piloted.

She heard a quiet mewing noise, and the creature Pidge had called a kitten and named Azul hopped up onto her lap and  meowed louder. “Ah. Hello, Azul. What are you up to now?” She chuckled as she stroked his back. The feline purred happily, pressing his head into her hand and rippling his spine to meet her palm halfway through each stroke.

She leaned forward to pet him a little better, and some of her hair fell forward and into her lap. Azul's bright blue eyes lit up, and he batted a paw at the silvery white locks playfully. “Oh? Do you like that, little one?” Allura giggled, picking up the bunch of hair and wiggling it in front of the kitten, enticing it into a game of chase. The kitten pounced.

Oh quiznak. How the hell did this happen, exactly?!? One minute, Lance was happily playing with Allura's hair, which was really freaking soft okay, and the next he's completely tangled in silvery ropes of fluffy hair and Coran is trying to brush him out while Allura whines, and Blue is laughing so hard inside his head he swears she's rolling around in her hangar which is not helping the situation!!! He mewls in pain when Coran snags his tail with the brush. “Ah, sorry Azul! Goodness, Princess, he's really tangled in here!” Coran chirped cheerfully, obviously trying not to laugh.

Lance hissed as the brush snagged his tail again. Really, Coran? That's sensitive and he kind of needs it for balance, thanks! Blue was still laughing, and told him that Black was asking what was so funny as they returned to the Castle, and Blue sent them all the image of Lance as Azul struggling to free himself from Allura's hair. He was then told that the paladins were very confused as to why their Lions were suddenly laughing.

He snorted, already imagining the look on the other's faces. Sure enough, a few ticks later they were all coming into the common room and bursting into laughter at the sight of Azul stuck in the Allura's tangled rats nest, or rather, cats nest of hair. Soon Shiro was gently pulling him from Allura's mane, and he purred gratefully and reached up to boop the Black Paladin's throat with his warm kitten nose.

“So, any luck?” Allura asked once she'd gotten her hair to be manageable again. Hunk frowned and shook his head sadly. “No luck. We combed the entire area, and got nothing.” The Yellow Paladin explained, and Pidge jumped in. “We did find that one of the trees had a faint smear of blood on it, like he'd punched it or grabbed it and it cut him. Other than that though, nothing. I plan on analyzing the plant cells and pollen I collected from it though. It's weird, because it looks really similar to something we have on Earth, just a whole lot bigger.” She blurted, holding up a few petri dishes and test tubes.

Lance's head shot up, and he scrambled onto Shiro's shoulder to yowl loudly at the objects in the little hacker's hands. The petri dishes had familiar green slices on it that shone faintly, and the test tube was full of that terrifying golden-silver dust. “Azul? What's wrong?” Shiro looked very concerned. Lance wiggled out of Shiro's hold and bolted over to Pidge, rearing up on his hind legs and yowling at the top of his lungs.

Not good, not safe, very dangerous! Don't breathe it in! I don't want you to become like me! It hurts when you breathe it in! Pidge, please! Get rid of it before it hurts you too! Blue, tell Green! Tell the other Lions that you can't breathe it in! He thought desperately, and dug his claws into Pidge's legs, forcing her to drop it with a startled yelp. He snatched the bottle before it hit the ground, and tore out of the room as fast as possible.

// there's your fluff! I left it on a cliffhanger because i'm evil like that ;) Next chapter we return to our regularly scheduled angst ;)