“That was the subject of the Pfizer announcement on Monday. These vaccines essentially send a coded message to the immune system to tell it to make COVID antibodies.
“There are the adenoviral vector vaccines. These insert the COVID spike protein – these are the key antigen, the key protein which allows humans to recognise the virus – and allows the virus to bind with the human cell. Those are inserted into a harmless version of weakened common cold virus, and that again stimulates antibody production.
“Then there are the protein adjuvant vaccines. These are slightly older technology, and are effectively pieces of the COVID virus protein broken up, and when given with an adjacent, they stimulate antibody production.
“Finally, there is the option of a whole virus approach, which is where you take the virus and you kill it. Then it is safely injectable, and it stimulates antibody production. So there are may different approaches, many different companies, and we’re just at the beginning of this journey.”