TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, who together identified a chemical tweak to messenger RNA, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday. Their work enabled potent Covid vaccines to be made in less than a year, averting tens of millions of deaths and helping the world recover from the worst pandemic in a century.

The approach to mRNA the two researchers developed has been used in Covid shots that have since been administered billions of times globally and has transformed vaccine technology, laying the foundation for inoculations that may one day protect against a number of deadly diseases like cancer.

The slow and methodical research that made the Covid shots possible has now run up against a powerful anti-vaccine movement, especially in the United States. Skeptics have seized in part on the vaccines’ rapid development — among the most impressive feats of modern medical science — to undermine the public’s trust in them.

But the breakthroughs behind the shots unfolded little by little over decades, including at the University of Pennsylvania, where Dr. Weissman runs a lab.

ricardo00

Well deserved Noble prize! And you did a nice job describing the slow and painful process that went into the development of these powerful vaccines (Dr. Kariko lost her job at University of Penn since she couldn't get funding to continue this work which was progressing too slowly for the funding agencies).

TimmyKnowles Loc: Gallup, New Mexico

Yes, quite an impressive feat. I still cannot believe all the grief these scientists caught over the vaccines. They are the true heroes of the age.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Thanks for the post. It helps me understand more why my trust in the vaccine was justified. I hate to say this, but when I looked at WHO was pro and WHO was con, I wanted to be with the PRO team!!! Now wasn't that totally empirical and rational??

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

It's amazing research and development with HUGE implications for disease prevention, avoidance, and mitigation. Science is a methodology that often takes many years or decades to produce solid results, with lots of running down dead-end rabbit holes along the way. Then again, serendipitous breakthroughs occur. Chance favors the prepared mind, so knowing what MIGHT work, based on what one has done in the past and sees in the present, can put one in the position to guide teams to solve critical problems.

Thank goodness for diligent folks like these two! They are worthy Nobel recipients.

ruzbynik Loc: Victoria BC

Averting tens of millions of deaths is wonderful advertising hype, but where is the actual proof of that imaginary number?

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

This was a quote from The NY Times (should have put it in quotes), but they appear to be on pretty firm ground…

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19-vaccines-saved-estimated-20-million-lives-1-year

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(22)00320-6/fulltext

https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/covid-19-vaccine/news/20221213/covid-vaccines-saved-more-than-3-million-us-lives

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2022/07/07/covid-19-vaccines-saved-an-estimated-20m-lives-during-their-first-year

ruzbynik Loc: Victoria BC

They appear to be proper estimates based on mathematical modeling. If you look at death rates in highly vaccinated countries vs unvaccinated it suggests that the actual data doesn't jive with those estimates. The least vaccinated countries have the lowest deaths from covid. Why does the US have the worlds highest death toll?

ricardo00

There are many reasons for different rates in different countries, from different genetic make-ups, different predisposing factors (higher obesity rates in the US, higher levels of asthma/allergies in developed countries, etc), as well as potential under reporting in some countries (ie. China, India, etc). On the other hand, modeling always makes assumptions, so it is hard to quantify the exact value of a COVID vaccine though based on the clinical trials, I personally choose to get them.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Absolutely not true - at 1.1%, the US isn’t even close in eIther percentage or total deaths: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality

And

Higher COVID-19 Vaccination Rates Are Associated with Lower COVID-19 Mortality: A Global Analysis” (NIH)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9862920/

Are you trying to have an anti-science or anti-vax argument? The facts are not on your side.

apacs1 Loc: Lansdale, PA

Don't get vaccinated. Use clorox.

srron Loc: Courtice,On.

Funny how in 40 years there is still no vaccine for HIV and in over 100 years there is no vaccine for the common cold but in less than a year 4 different companies come up with one all in the same week and somehow managed to compress a minimum of 10 years testing into 9 months

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Just a guess, but could it be because coronaviruses have been around for a long time and aren't new?

BebuLamar

First reported coronavirus infection was in 1920. But I think not in human.

sourdough58 Loc: Maine

Watch this to find out how the vax was developed https://youtu.be/mfLycFHBsro?si=niCybusd-PLr3sim