The primary reason that I’m hearing is because it is a brand new technology and was rushed into production. Some latched on to it being an mRNA sequence that causes our own bodies to produce the spike protein which is then recognized as “foreign” to our bodies, thus triggering the antibody manufacture. All vaccines introduce something foreign into our bodies to trigger our immune response, it’s just that this seems to be brand new. It’s actually not!
mRNA technology has been in the works for 15 years now. Targeted cancer drugs use the technology. The science was actually serendipitous in that it was ready to used in exactly this way. Usual vaccine production was always slow as it was a trial and error technique to figure out how to trigger an immune response without getting someone sick…then, they begged for funding to go to the next phase, gathered data and if looking good, beg for more funding to get to the next phase.
These vaccines were able to shortcut many of these processes yet still included all the testing and data. First, Trump provided the funding. That alone eliminated the begging for research money phases. Next, they did all the same steps but did them consecutively rather than one step at a time. No steps were left out…this allowed them to condense what normally took years into one single year.
As I mentioned, this new viral manufacturing was already there. The Moderna scientist wrote out the process over the weekend when she received the Covid19 genome! They knew what they needed to look for and how to make exactly what they wanted. And, they knew it would be safe. What they weren’t sure of was how effective it would be as most yearly vaccines are 60% and this turned out to be 90-95% effective…to say they were thrilled was an understatement! They also needed to determine which part of the virus would be best to use and quickly identified the spike on the surface to be perfect. The rest was manufacturing and figuring out dosages. Then testing on real people. They even accidentally discovered that a lighter dose was more effective than the dose they first assumed. They also knew it would have to be a two dose vaccine as many are to give the highest response. While all the data isn’t completed, particularly children, that’s a time factor they couldn’t speed up nor is how long it will be effective. They are hoping, of course, for a very long term and it could well be as it’s so specific and having such high immunity numbers.
No matter what, this vaccine was done in record time but not by cutting corners. Mostly due to funding already being there and the technology was there waiting for the opportunity. Scientists had already been discussing which virus to attempt first when Covid19 gave them the answer!
I don’t blame those that are hesitant. This is a new technology and a new vaccine with no “history “ behind it. Plus, people don’t understand the technology very well. Some will never take it but those not opposed to vaccination will probably start relaxing as millions get it with only a rare reaction here or there.