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A comment on Pfizer 91% effective in updated data, protective against South African variant. Parent comment

Re:Pfizer 91% effective in updated data, protective against ... by 99_00 on Thursday April 01, 2021 @03:45PM (#26665160)
Do you know how long it takes for the RNA to break down? Is this why they need two shots? I find it very hard to find answers to these kind of questions using search engines.
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Re:Pfizer 91% effective in updated data, protective against ... by maxerickson on Thursday April 01, 2021 @05:22PM (#26666214)
It doesn't take very long for the mRNA to break down, a few hours.

It's perhaps overly simplified, but the first shot teaches the immune system what to look for and the second shot causes it to prepare a bunch of antibodies that will attack the virus (in some sense, the second shot is a reminder to keep defending against the virus, and the immune system does that by making antibodies).

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