The Pour Over Today - How Do mRNA Vaccines Work? (The FDA Just Approved a New One for the Flu)

Starting point is 00:00:00 People want us to go that step further and say, and this side is right. And we just never will. No. The poorer will never say, here's what we think is right. The forward will always choose to say, here's the story. You're now informed. Let's pray. You know.

Starting point is 00:00:21 Hey, it's Kathleen. And this is Catherine Ann. Welcome to TPO Explains, where we provide news context for normal people. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we summarize the day's biggest headlines, as you know. But as we're writing about different things, we always have questions. We're like, what is this again? How does this work? So on Saturdays, we take a shallow dive into one topic from the headlines of that week

Starting point is 00:00:44 to educate ourselves and we bring you along with us. And great news. We have added a thousand new subscribers. So welcome to all of you newbies. Thank you so much for following along with us and tuning in with us. So next week, we will have Jason, our fearless founder, join us. We do already know next week's time. topic. Should we tell them?

Starting point is 00:01:04 Why not? I have any questions, saying cinnamon. So next week we'll be talking about AI. We're going to start with the basics. Just what is it? I promise we'll cover other stuff about AI in the weeks that follow. But Jason will join us next week. So if you have any questions that you want to go ahead and throw out there for him to ask

Starting point is 00:01:21 and start thinking about, we have a form set up so you can go to the pourover.org slash ask Jason. His name is spelled J-A-S-O-N. No Silent Letters. so you can just ask him whatever you want. The form will be open indefinitely. I would love to see what questions Jason gets asked. I'll throw in some myself.

Starting point is 00:01:43 So be sure to comment what you want to hear him talk about. And congratulations to Jennifer Palmer, who won our TPO hoodie for being one of our new followers. So email news at the poreover.org to make sure you can get your hoodie. So should we get into it, Kay? Let's do it. Let's do it. To tell everybody what we're talking about today?

Starting point is 00:02:01 Yes. we are talking about mRNA vaccines because the FDA just approved a new one for the flu. Yeah. And it was called like Influenza. Influcia. Influcia. Something like that. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:02:16 I was trying to Google it and I kept writing influenza and it was like, do you mean influenza? And I'm like, I don't. I'm trying to look up information about the vaccine. Okay. So KAA is one of our writers. She writes all of these explainers. She's going to read through what we have written for you today on how M RNA vaccines. work, so feel free to follow along with your eyes or just listen along to her soothing voice

Starting point is 00:02:36 with your ears. Okay, so let's start with what is a vaccine more generally. Vaccines teach your body to recognize and fight foreign invaders like viruses, and different vaccines take different paths. Traditional vaccines use a weakened or dead version of the actual virus or bacteria. Your immune system spots it as an unwelcome intruder, builds antibodies, and then files it away for the future. So if the real virus shows up later, it's got a playbook. This is how vaccines for diseases like smallpox

Starting point is 00:03:09 and polio work. So how is an mRNA vaccine different? If you throw it way back to 7th grade bio, MRI... I tried to never do that, by the way, try to never do that. Oh yeah, that's fair. So you may not remember that

Starting point is 00:03:25 MRI stands for messenger RNA. Think of mRNA like a recipe. It gives yourselves instructions to build a protein, then breaks down once the job is done. Instead of introducing a weakened virus, an mRNA vaccine instructs your body to make a small piece of a virus. They are faster to develop as viruses like the flu mutate, but MRI immunity tends to fade faster, requiring more boosters. So, maybe you're thinking, wait, aren't MRI vaccines kind of a hot topic. Yes, they're a very hot topic, and here's why. So MRNA wasn't discovered until the 60s, and early research on mRNA vaccines as well as other vaccines used cell lines

Starting point is 00:04:11 derived from abortions. An MRI vaccine wasn't developed until COVID, and critics argue Operation Warp Speed, which was a federal program that fast-tracked vaccine development during the pandemic, prioritized speed over safety. Last year, the FDA updated warning levels on MRNA COVID-19 vaccines to show a risk for myocarditis or paracarditis, which are heart conditions. Supporters counter that safety testing on mRNA vaccines wasn't skipped. It was just performed differently during warp speed and point to large-scale studies showing rare side effects and estimates that vaccines saved roughly 15 million lives during the pandemic. So until the recently approved MRI flu vaccine, COVID and RSV had the only other MRNA vaccines out there.

Starting point is 00:05:02 And as the technology develops, so will the conversation. So just stay tuned. Hey, it's Emily. The kids are heading back to school this month, which means lots of school supply brands, doling out lunch money, paying registration fees, and replacing my boys' jeans that now look more like Capri Pants. I'm trying not to blow the back-to-school budget. And thankfully, I have upside to help.

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Starting point is 00:06:10 something you didn't already know? This may make me sound really ignorant, but I didn't know that there was a big debate around MRNA vaccines specifically. Obviously, there was a debate around vaccines, but I didn't know until we started talking about it as a potential topic that MRI vaccines specifically. Yeah, I didn't realize that the COVID vaccine was a different type of vaccine, was it the mRNA vaccine. What, two out of three of them were MRI? Yes, I believe so. I think Johnson and Johnson was a standard vaccine and then Moderna and Pfizer were MRI. Yeah. That's interesting to me. You didn't know that was a topic because I I feel like I get that feeling of like, oh gosh, this is a contentious topic.

Starting point is 00:06:57 Anytime we're talking about the COVID vaccine because of it being an MR. See, yeah, I just thought it was just because it was a vaccine. And so I'm just so removed from the internet and all things like that, which this is my job. But anyway. Well, now it is. Yeah. COVID was a different time for all of us. Okay, so for me, I didn't realize that MRNA, messenger RNA, the Eureka moment for that was 1961.

Starting point is 00:07:32 Like, that is so interesting to me because, well, I guess, like, so when you're in seventh grade, you're making those cell models, right? Like, everybody had to do that, right? And a shoebox with Plato. Right. You've got the ribosomes and the mitochondria. And I always was like, that was my favorite. to seventh grade bio.

Starting point is 00:07:54 Sounds like you are. Anyway, this forced me to go back. Thank you very much. But that does stand out as like a banner moment for middle school science was making your cell diagram, whatever it's called. You know what I'm talking about? And you put like little flags in it. And some people, you could pick whatever you want it. You could use Plato or you could use food or whatever.

Starting point is 00:08:21 Like kids could make it. I don't know. Honestly, maybe I want to go back there. than I thought. But yeah, that's what stood out to me. I was like, oh, MRI. I remember that one. And then I was like, 1961. What about what was the hardest part of this article to explain in plain English? Yeah. I took, it took me a minute to like draw the distinction between a traditional vaccine and an MRI vaccine. because at the outset I was like, okay, what is the actual difference in this? And then trying to break it down in a way that made sense that was also still accurate.

Starting point is 00:09:00 I think with all of these things, the hardest part is like, okay, I can break this down, but then is it still accurate when I break it down? Right. And so trying to draw that distinction in an accurate but clear way. Yeah, totally. What about the Christian perspective? What do we go with? I actually am asking you to tell everybody what we went with because I know what we went with. And it's one of my favorite perspectives that we share. So tell everybody.

Starting point is 00:09:28 Well, culturally hot topics frequently make people think, speak, and act poorly, including us. And we can respect others and represent God better if we are quick to listen and slow to speak. Believing that we're right is not an excuse to be harsh or impatient. And we look to James chapter 3 verse 17, which says, but the wisdom. from above is pure than peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy, and good fruits, unwavering without pretense. Yeah. So much wisdom in James for us, for any part of our day, but especially when there's contentious topics. So thanks, Kay. Before we go, let's take a moment to pray a prayer for love.

Starting point is 00:10:15 Light of the world, you have shown us what love is, not a warm feeling pursued for our own happiness, but a costly sacrifice offered willingly for the good of the beloved. Thank you for making your love known by sending your only son for the life of the world. Train us to love like you do, seeking the good of our brothers and sisters and even our enemies so that your light shines in this dark world. Amen. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to like and subscribe. You can find all of our past explainers as well as our Monday, Wednesday, Friday news summaries on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So until next time, bye.

Starting point is 00:11:06 My pantry stays stocked with Element. I drink it, my husband drinks it, my kids guzzle it. Basically, we run on Element around here. No sugar, no crashes, just the science-backed ratio of electrolytes need to stay sharp. Plus, it makes drinking water a lot more enjoyable and delicious. If you haven't tried it yet, you're missing out. As a listener of the pourover, you'll get a free eight pack of elements most popular drink mix flavors with any drink mix purchase. Just use the element link in the show notes.

The Pour Over Today - How Do mRNA Vaccines Work? (The FDA Just Approved a New One for the Flu)

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