How the Sinovac Vaccine Works

The private Chinese company Sinovac developed a coronavirus vaccine called CoronaVac. The government of Turkey announced that a trial there showed the vaccine has an efficacy of 91.25%. But Sinovac has yet to share the full details of its research.

A Vaccine Made From Coronaviruses
CoronaVac works by teaching the immune system to make antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The antibodies attach to viral proteins, such as the so-called spike proteins that stud its surface.

​To create CoronaVac, the Sinovac researchers started by obtaining samples of the coronavirus from patients in China, Britain, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. One sample from China eventually served as the basis for the vaccine.

Killing the Virus
The researchers grew large stocks of the coronavirus in monkey kidney cells. Then they doused the viruses with a chemical called beta-propiolactone. The compound disabled the coronaviruses by bonding to their genes. The inactivated coronaviruses could no longer replicate. But their proteins, including spike, remained intact.

The researchers then drew off the inactivated viruses and mixed them with a tiny amount of an aluminum-based compound called an adjuvant. Adjuvants stimulate the immune system to boost its response to a vaccine. 

Inactivated viruses have been used for over a century. Jonas Salk used them to create his polio vaccine in the 1950s, and they’re the bases for vaccines against other diseases including rabies and hepatitis A.

​Prompting an Immune Response
Because the coronaviruses in CoronaVac are dead, they can be injected into the arm without causing Covid-19. Once inside the body, some of the inactivated viruses are swallowed up by a type of immune cell called an antigen-presenting cell.
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​Read the full article

By Jonathan Corum and Carl Zimmer​

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