[FRIAM] the synthetic spike, again

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COVID-19 Vaccine-Generated Spike Protein is Safe, Contrary to Viral Claims
https://www.factcheck.org/2021/07/scicheck-covid-19-vaccine-generated-spike-protein-is-safe-contrary-to-viral-claims/

"That’s because the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is a shape-shifter. To fuse its viral membrane with the host cell membrane it substantially changes its shape from an unstable pre-fusion state to a stable post-fusion state. While previously working on a vaccine for MERS, a disease caused by another coronavirus, McLellan and others discovered that by adding two proline molecules to the spike protein, they could lock it into its pre-fusion state, triggering a more effective immune response and preventing cell entry. The same harmless mutation, called 2P, as in two proline molecules, is used in the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. 

During a SARS-CoV-2 infection, the NIAID told us, the virus spike proteins can latch onto human cells, allowing the virus to infect them. With the live virus, the protein “attaches to receptors on the surface of cells and fuses the viral membrane with the host-cell membrane,” McLellan said.

However, vaccine-generated spike proteins can’t do that fusion because they are locked in the pre-fusion shape."

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