![]() An mRNA vaccine is a copy of the genetic code used by the SARS-CoV-2 virus to make the spike protein. So that if you are exposed to the virus at a future date, the immune system has the ability to rev up production of antibodies rapidly and fight off the pathogen again. ![]() The mRNA vaccine platform mRNA or messenger RNA, vaccines teach the immune system to make memory cells. How does an mRNA a vaccine work and how do we know that they're safe? An antibody against this protein prevents the virus from attaching to human cells, so the virus can't infect those cells. The spike protein is what the SARS-CoV-2 virus uses to attach to cells and infect them. Or in the case of COVID, the antibodies glom onto the spike protein. By showing the virus or parts of the virus to your immune system, the vaccine teaches your body to recognize the pathogen and turns on production of antibodies, which are proteins that attach to the virus and allow killer immune cells to gobble it up. Most vaccines work by presenting your body with a weakened or dead version of a virus or some of the proteins found on the surface of the virus. Thanks to billions of dollars in global funding and thousands of scientists and physicians working for months, we've been able to fit years of research and analysis into just 10 months, without skipping any regulatory or testing steps to development of the COVID-19 vaccine. Over the past 10 years, researchers have been improving messenger RNA vaccine effectiveness. mRNA vaccines have been developed for other diseases like rabies, Ebola, and Zika, and a large-scale influenza trial was carried out in humans from 1993 to 1996. The vaccine platform was initially developed in the early 1990s, in an effort to create safe and effective vaccines in a pandemic situation. While they are the first messenger RNA vaccines to be approved for widespread use in the US, mRNA vaccines aren't actually that new. ![]() ![]() The first two vaccines approved for early use by the FDA to fight SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, are both mRNA vaccines. I'm an infectious disease physician at the University of Chicago, and I've been working on the vaccines against COVID. ![]()
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