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Adenoviral vector vaccines have been in development for decades, but very few have been approved for use in humans. What does the history of adenoviral vector vaccine development tell us about their safety and their potential to alter DNA?
How Do Adenoviral Vector Vaccines Work?
Essentially, these types of vaccines act like delivery shuttles. They use an adenovirus -- which has been engineered to be incapable of replicating and causing disease -- to deliver the genes for making the antigen; in this case, that's the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. That in turn elicits an immune response and provides protection against the coronavirus.