"[It’s supposed to be 100% if you want an effective vaccine.]"
I'm not convinced that this statement is true. As asymptomatic infections with SARS-CoV-2 have demonstrated, it probably takes very little spike protein (which is highly antigenic) to elicit a measurable immune response.
In other words, even if only 50% of the injected mRNA is …
"[It’s supposed to be 100% if you want an effective vaccine.]"
I'm not convinced that this statement is true. As asymptomatic infections with SARS-CoV-2 have demonstrated, it probably takes very little spike protein (which is highly antigenic) to elicit a measurable immune response.
In other words, even if only 50% of the injected mRNA is intact and is able to direct our cells to express spike protein, the vaccinated person should still develop an immune response to the spike protein. Heck, I'd think that a threshold of 30% intact mRNA would be sufficient, particularly with the Moderna vaccine, given its higher concentration of mRNA compared with the Pfizer-BNT vaccine.
The greater problem, I suspect, is that these vaccines contain too much intact mRNA. The spike protein is highly antigenic in its own right. Produce too much of it, and it is likely to cause a massive inflammatory response.
It may very well have been a blessing in disguise that so many of these vials/batches contain "suboptimal" amounts of intact mRNA.
"[It’s supposed to be 100% if you want an effective vaccine.]"
I'm not convinced that this statement is true. As asymptomatic infections with SARS-CoV-2 have demonstrated, it probably takes very little spike protein (which is highly antigenic) to elicit a measurable immune response.
In other words, even if only 50% of the injected mRNA is intact and is able to direct our cells to express spike protein, the vaccinated person should still develop an immune response to the spike protein. Heck, I'd think that a threshold of 30% intact mRNA would be sufficient, particularly with the Moderna vaccine, given its higher concentration of mRNA compared with the Pfizer-BNT vaccine.
The greater problem, I suspect, is that these vaccines contain too much intact mRNA. The spike protein is highly antigenic in its own right. Produce too much of it, and it is likely to cause a massive inflammatory response.
It may very well have been a blessing in disguise that so many of these vials/batches contain "suboptimal" amounts of intact mRNA.