How Does One of The D.I.Y. Coronavirus Vaccines Work?

 "“It’s very simple,” Dr. Estep said. “It consists of five ingredients you could mix together in a physician’s office.”

The key ingredient: tiny bits of viral proteins, or peptides, which the scientists ordered online. If all went well, the peptides would train the immune system to defend against the coronavirus, even with no actual virus present.

In late April, Dr. Estep joined several collaborators in a lab as they stirred the concoction and sprayed it in their nostrils. Dr. Church, a longtime mentor to Dr. Estep, said he took it alone in his bathroom to maintain social-distancing precautions."