For mRNA, Covid Vaccines Are Just the Beginning


One of the strengths of mRNA is its “amazing speed,” as Hatchett puts it. Its only production is the four amino acids that make up the “letters” of the RNA series, so they can be synthesized and synthesized very quickly. “Creating organisms is very complex and time consuming and has been difficult to implement in many places. It has taken India years to develop vaccines,” says Hatchett. “It would be easier for countries to develop mRNA capacity than for genetic engineering.”

Newly developed countries, Hatchett points out, are jumping on the vaccine route to mRNA — the mRNA plant is already being developed in Africa and Asia. After Covid, it can be quickly re-engineered to make a vaccine against another disease – all you have to do is change the basic mRNA system to give the body new instructions. There are also fewer concerns about purity or contamination than traditional vaccines – the body quickly translates, expresses, and breaks down the mRNA cable.

“The mRNA is completely adaptable,” said Jackie Miller, vice president of moderate infectious diseases in Moderna. “The difference between different vaccines is the DNA template that we use to create messenger RNA, but for all types of vaccines, we use the same lipid nanoparticle.”

CEPI seeks to use this flexibility to create a library of mRNA vaccines against any families with viruses that are known to cause human immunodeficiency virus. That could cost $ 20 billion to $ 30 billion, according to Hatchett, but it could help respond more quickly to any new emergence. “The lesson from 2020 is 326 days [the time from sequencing the genome of SARS-CoV-2 to administering the first doses of a Covid vaccine outside of trials] it’s good, amazing, and fast, “he says.” CEPI wants to have the opportunity to develop a vaccine for the risks that come within 100 days. “

Another goal of CEPI is to improve access to the mRNA vaccine, which still needs to be stored and transported at room temperature (–80 ° C for Pfizer / BioNtech, -20 ° C for Moderna), making remote access difficult. The importance of a cold chain and its cost are two reasons why mRNA vaccines have been purchased and administered by high-income countries. In India, 88 percent of people who have received the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, based on other technologies, do not need to be stored in the cold, and it has become cheaper; in the US many have received mRNA vaccines.

This problem will not go away — the natural and unstable mRNA, says Karikó, to the point that vaccination can be disrupted by the highway — but there is a difference between the temperature and the end of the shelf; you can keep the vaccine at very low temperatures, but it spoils quickly. “In some parts of the world, this is not the best way to express yourself,” Miller said. While mRNA may be cheaper than traditional vaccines, this is not the case today — and making sure there is access to it may require some skill. Dieffenbach prescribes small particles of the freeze-dried vaccine to be easily transported and stored as one of the solutions – in the end mRNA can be elevated in the nose, excreted as a powder, or put in a patch. Progressive RNA, which replicates itself within the body, is able to reduce the dose, which can reduce the risk of side effects.



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