How are vaccines made?

The most common way to make a vaccine involves using the virus antigen itself, Dr Gall explains. "In any vaccine, the strain of virus that needs an immunisation must be identified before anything can be done. However, once the strain is identified, the antigen is isolated and either weakened or made inactive through a chemical process," she

Virus proteins that are used to create vaccines are sometimes grown in cells that come from chicken embryos, or alternatively, they can be grown in a bioreactor like a Petri dish.

When a virus is weakened or inactive, it can't reproduce in order to cause illness, but the body's immune system can still create antibodies to fight it off. That way, if you do come into contact with an active form of the virus, your body should be equipped to fight it before it makes you ill.

Vaccines in an outbreak

During unprecedented times, like the current coronavirus outbreak, vaccines must still go through the same process, but because the demand is higher a fast-tracked process is usually possible.

"Right now, health professionals around the globe are racing against the clock to get a vaccine for this virus. However, the issue is that creating a vaccine takes time. However, the fact that all efforts from health professionals around the globe will be focused on getting a vaccine could quicken the process," Mr Sagoo says.

But in order to do this, scientists need to identify the exact strain of the virus causing the pandemic.

"Before any vaccine can be produced, the exact strain causing the epidemic or pandemic must be identified and isolated, as with any other vaccine production," Dr Gall explains.

Source: The Guardian

"Unfortunately, even in cases where an immunisation is desperately needed, it can take a long time to create one, and certain processes can only be accelerated so much before safety is compromised.

"Any vaccine, including those made for a mass outbreak, are produced in the same ways. However, Moderna, the company behind one of the current vaccines being trialled for COVID-19, uses mRNA technology - a faster method than traditional vaccines."

Messenger RNA (mRNA) is a molecule found in cells which carries DNA codes from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, where a process called protein synthesis is carried out.

"The DNA sequence of the virus is transcribed into mRNA, meaning that the actual antigen of the virus itself isn't included in the vaccine,. Despite that, it still contains everything that the body needs to create specific antibodies to fight off the virus."