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Covid for Dummies: Vaccines, Covid and the Delta variant (for the vaccine hesitant)
Note: This is a repost of a story I accidentally deleted. I’ve also updated it a bit since a lot has happened since the original story was published.
I worked in biotech for over 15 years. Like most industries the jargon is heavy duty. Unlike many industries, the jargon is necessary. It’s the language of science — it consists of words the rest of us don’t know because scientists discuss things the rest of us never discuss — or even need to understand — until now.
Here’s what I’ve learned, in the jargon-free language of the non-scientist.
Virus
A virus is a tiny living thing so small it may not even be visible using a microscope. This is how they can be airborne — think of a bunch of weightless teeny tiny particles that can fly up your nose or be breathed into your mouth and lungs without you feeling a thing.
A virus survives by moving into another living being and making copies of itself. Those copies take up space inside the body of the person, animal, or plant the virus has moved into.
Fun fact: You know when you have a cut on your arm that’s red and swollen and a little sore? That’s from a bacterial infection, most likely. Some viruses even live inside bacteria.
