What is Polyethylene Glycol (PEG)?
What is Polysorbate?
Gene Therapy
Caveat…Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice
Gene therapy is a medical field which focuses on the utilization of the therapeutic delivery of nucleic acids into a patient’s cells as a drug to treat disease. What are the types of gene therapy?There are two different types of gene therapy depending on which types of cells are treated:
- Somatic gene therapy: transfer of a section of DNA to any cell of the body that doesn’t produce sperm or eggs. …
- Germline gene therapy: transfer of a section of DNA to cells that produce eggs or sperm.
Are there any groups of people who should not get the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine?
There are only a few groups of people who should not get the mRNA vaccine. They include people who
- are allergic to any components of the mRNA vaccine, which include polyethylene glycol (PEG) and polysorbate
- had an allergic reaction within the first 30 minutes after receiving the first dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.
If you have a history of allergic reactions to other (non-COVID) vaccines or to injectable medications, ask your doctor if it is safe for you to get one of the currently available mRNA vaccines.
People with weakened immune systems, including those with autoimmune conditions and those taking immune-suppressing treatment, are at increased risk for severe COVID illness. People in these groups can get an mRNA vaccine. However, there may be other safety considerations. If you fall into this category, talk to your doctor about your individual risks and benefits.
Finally, it is possible that convalescent plasma or monoclonal antibodies, both of which are used to treat COVID-19, could reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine. If you have received either of these treatments, wait 90 days before getting your vaccine.
What side effects can I expect from the COVID vaccine?
Minor side effects are common after COVID-19 vaccination. Almost everyone experiences arm pain at the injection site. Other symptoms can include low grade fever, body ache, chills, fatigue, and headache.
You can expect to feel better within 24 to 48 hours. Some people feel too unwell to go to work or perform their usually daily activities during this period. Contact your doctor if your symptoms have not improved by the third day.
Moving your sore arm around may help to relieve discomfort. If you have a fever, drink plenty of fluids. Over the counter pain relievers like ibuprofen or acetaminophen can also help with fever, pain, and other discomfort. However, it’s best to not take a pain reliever right before getting your shot, because there is a chance this could blunt your immune response.
The good news: These side effects are a sign that the vaccine is working and that your body is building an antibody response. The currently available vaccines require two shots, and side effects are more likely to occur after the second shot.
Will the COVID vaccine prevent me from infecting others?
The answer is, we don’t know.
Clinical trials of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines found that both do a good job preventing symptomatic COVID-19 disease, including severe COVID-19. However, the trials did not measure whether a person who is vaccinated is less likely to spread the virus to someone else.
It’s possible that the vaccines protect against COVID-19 disease by preventing a person from becoming infected in the first place. However, it’s also possible that the vaccine protects a person from COVID-19 illness, but does not prevent a person from becoming infected. In other words, a vaccinated person may have replicating virus in their nose and throat even if they are protected from becoming sick.
But does that mean that you have enough virus in your nose and throat to infect someone else? Not necessarily. It’s possible that the immune response triggered by the vaccine, which protects you from becoming sick, also reduces the amount of virus in your nose and throat to a point where you are unlikely to spread it to someone else. But we need more research to know for sure.
The bottom line? If you’re among the first groups of people to get vaccinated, it’s best to continue wearing masks and maintaining physical distance in order to protect others who haven’t yet gotten the vaccine.
Could an mRNA vaccine change my DNA?
An mRNA vaccine — the first COVID-19 vaccine to be granted emergency use authorization (EUA) by the FDA — cannot change your DNA. Be Careful
mRNA, or messenger RNA, is genetic material that contains instructions for making proteins. mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 contain man-made mRNA. Inside the body, the mRNA enters human cells and instructs them to produce the “spike” protein found on the surface of the COVID-19 virus. Soon after a cell makes the spike protein, the cell breaks down the mRNA into harmless pieces. At no point does the mRNA enter the cell’s nucleus, which is where our genetic material (DNA) lives.
The immune system recognizes the spike protein as an invader and produces antibodies against it. If the antibodies later encounter the actual virus, they are ready to recognize and destroy it before it causes illness.
Polyethylene Glycol
Polyethylene glycol is a polyether compound derived from petroleum with many applications, from industrial manufacturing to medicine. PEG is also known as polyethylene oxide or polyoxyethylene, depending on its molecular weight. The structure of PEG is commonly expressed as H−ₙ−OH.
Is polyethylene glycol used in antifreeze?
In controlled amounts, polyethylene glycol is not harmful if ingested and is an ingredient in laxative medications. Ethylene glycol, by contrast, is very toxic and is best known for its use in antifreeze and deicer solutions.
Polysorbate 80
Polysorbate 80 is a common food additive used in several vaccines as an emulsifier (to hold other ingredients together). Compared with its use in foods, there is very little polysorbate 80 in vaccines.
What is polysorbate 80 used in?
Medical use
Polysorbate 80 is an excipient that is used to stabilize aqueous formulations of medications for parenteral administration, and used as an emulsifier in the making of the popular antiarrhythmic amiodarone. It is also used as an excipient in some European and Canadian influenza vaccines.
First study to compare gene production among African Americans
The percentage of African ancestry in a person’s genome determines the level that certain genes are expressed, as measured by mRNA, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study. The discovery could offer insight into the different risk of diseases as well as a different response to medications in African Americans.
This study, published in Genomic Medicine, is the first to compare gene production between African Americans. Previous studies compared only black and white individuals.
We know there is a difference between black and white. We asked, does ‘the shade gray’ matter? Apparently it does,” said lead study author Minoli Perera, PharmD, PhD, associate professor of Pharmacology. “We continue to lump individuals into racial categories to determine what will work best in them as a group. But African Americans are not a monolithic group.”
African Americans are not a monolithic group.” What is a monolithic person?
monolith noun [C] (GROUP OF PEOPLE)
a group of people who are thought of as being all the same: The study documented the diverse backgrounds of the Latino population, which is often viewed wrongly by outsiders as an ethnic monolith
There were at least 28 genes whose expression (mRNA level) varied with the proportion of African ancestry. These genes were linked to 220 diseases or clinical outcomes such as coronary heart disease and triglyceride levels. Some of the identified genes that vary with African ancestry are related to drug metabolism (CYP2C19), renal disease (APOL1) and are an important target for cancer therapy (VGEF.). I totally disagree with the idea that this is a racist or stereotypical statement. To me, it is the opposite.
Though I am not black, I am “of color” and I understand that historically people of color have been seen by many whites as monolithic. In other words, the idea has been that we are not individuals — we are defined by our “color.”
To me, the statement means that blacks are individuals who are different from one another. This ought to be obvious, but it seems not to be.
I think there are a number of areas of difference. There are “fault lines” in the black community along various lines. There are recent immigrants and the descendants of slaves (remember the discussion of whether Obama was truly an African American?). There are fault lines between richer and poorer and between lighter skinned and darker skinned blacks.
This is how I read this statement. It should be a truism, but it is not because (especially historically) many whites see nonwhite groups as monolithic (otherwise there wouldn’t be the stuff about how all blacks, Asians, etc, look alike).
