Exploring By The Seat Of Your Pants – Dr. Tania Watts

Today we got to listen to a talk by Dr. Tania Watts, a Canadian Immunologist who studies vaccines and the immune system. Today, she talked with us about the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. She discussed the virus, vaccine research, and the immune system as a whole.

The current pandemic is caused by a virus known as SARS-CoV-2. This is an RNA virus that is part of the coronavirus family. Dr. Watts talked about how influenza is also an RNA virus, but they have key differences that have to be taken into account when developing a vaccine. I thought it was really interesting how she described the RNA polymerase of SARS-CoV-2 as less “sloppy” than that of influenza, meaning that the coronavirus is much less likely to mutate than the common flu. This means that scientists have hope that the coronavirus vaccine will not need to be adjusted seasonally, with one dose hopefully providing long-lasting protection.

Science has been moving at record speed in order to find a vaccine and hopefully return the world to normal. The amazing news from Pfizer the other day just shows how hard scientists are working and how far science as a whole has come. In her talk, Watts discussed the types of vaccines that are being developed right now, and the pros and cons to each. I really enjoyed this part of the discussion, becuase she brought up a lot of things that I had never even considered playing a roll in whether or not a vaccine could be successful.

For example, the Pfizer vaccine is an RNA vaccine. This means that the coronavirus RNA is encased in lipid nanoparticles and injected into the body. This type of vaccine has proved very effective, but must be kept very cold. In order to effectively distribute this vaccine, Pfizer must find a way to transport the vaccine to places while keeping it cold enough that it will still be effective when it gets there.

These types of challenges considered, I was curious as to when we can expect a vaccine to be widely accessible to the general public. As she does not work directly with the vaccine, and no one really knows, all Dr. Watts was able to do was give an estimate based on her knowledge. She guessed that by Dec/Jan, high risk and front line workers will be given the vaccine, and it should be available to everyone later in 2021.

Overall, I really enjoyed this talk, and I can’t wait to see what our future adventures with Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants will bring.