FOX 35's news partners at the Orlando Sentinel say AdventHealth will be one of the first hospitals in the state to get a vaccine, which may be as early as mid-December.

Orange County officials say they have the means necessary to store tens of thousands of doses of a coronavirus vaccine once it is eventually released.

Mayor Jerry Demings says they want to be ready when a vaccine is released and buying special freezers is the next step to battling the coronavirus. Demings says the county can store 150,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccines with its new refrigerator, freezer, and ultra-cold freezer.

But an mRNA vaccine is different, because rather than having the viral protein injected, a person receives genetic material – mRNA – that encodes the viral protein. When these genetic instructions are injected into the upper arm, the muscle cells translate them to make the viral protein directly in the body.

This approach mimics what the SARS-CoV-2 does in nature – but the vaccine mRNA codes only for the critical fragment of the viral protein. This gives the immune system a preview of what the real virus looks like without causing disease. This preview gives the immune system time to design powerful antibodies that can neutralize the real virus if the individual is ever infected.

While this synthetic mRNA is genetic material, it cannot be transmitted to the next generation. After an mRNA injection, this molecule guides the protein production inside the muscle cells, which reaches peak levels for 24 to 48 hours and can last for a few more days.

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The most important challenge for development of a mRNA vaccine remains its inherent instability, because it is more likely to break apart above freezing temperatures.