Years of research laid groundwork for speedy vaccine
at the NIH and the other at the University of Pennsylvania — and because How could scientists scientists had learned a race out COVID-19 vacbit about other coronavicines so fast without cutruses from prior SARS and ting corners? A head start MERS outbreaks. helped — over a decade of “When the pandemic behind-the-scenes research started, we were on a that had new vaccine techstrong footing both in nology poised for a chalterms of the science” lenge just as the coronaviand experience handling rus erupted. mRNA, said Dr. Tal Zaks,
“The speed is a reflection chief medical officer of of years of work that went M a s s a c h u s e t t s - b a s e d before,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, Moderna. the top U.S. infectious disTraditionally, making ease expert, told The Assovaccines required growciated Press. “That’s what ing viruses or pieces of the public has to underviruses — often in giant stand.” vats of cells or, like most
Creating vaccines and flu shots, in chicken eggs having results from rigor— and then purifying them ous studies less than a year before next steps in brewafter the world discovered ing shots. a never-before-seen disease The mRNA approach is incredible, cutting years is radically different. It off normal development. starts with a snippet of geBut the two U.S. frontrunnetic code that carries inners are made in a way that structions for making propromises speedier developteins. Pick the right virus ment may become the norm protein to target, and the — especially if they prove to body turns into a mini vacwork long-term as well as cine factory. early testing suggests. “Instead of growing
“Abject giddiness,” is up a virus in a 50,000-lihow Dr. C. Buddy Creech, a ter drum and inactivating Vanderbilt University vacit, we could deliver RNA cine expert, described sciand our bodies make the entists’ reactions when sepprotein, which starts the arate studies showed the immune response,” said two candidates were about Penn’s Dr. Drew Weiss95% effective. man.
“I think we enter into a Fifteen years ago, Weissgolden age of vaccinology man’s lab was trying to by having these types of harness mRNA to make a new technologies,” Creech variety of drugs and vacsaid at a briefing of the Incines. But researchers fectious Diseases Society of found simply injecting the America. genetic code into animals
Both shots — one made caused harmful inflammaby Pfizer andtion.BioNTech, the other by Moderna Weissman and a Penn and the National Insticolleague now at BioNtutes of Health — are soTech, Katalin Kariko, figcalled messenger RNA, or ured out a tiny modificamRNA, vaccines, a brandtion to a building block of new technology. U. S. reglab-grown RNA that let it ulators are set to decide slip undetected past inthis month whether to alf lammation- tr ig ger ing low emergency use, paving sentinels. the way for rationed shots “They could essentially that will start with health make a stealth RNA,” said workers and nursing home Pfizer chief scientific offiresidents. cer Dr. Philip Dormitzer.
Billions in company and Other researchers added government funding cera fat coating, called lipid tainly sped up vaccine denanoparticles, that helped velopment — and the unstealth RNA easily get infortunately huge number side cells and start producof infections meant scition of the target protein. entists didn’t have to wait Meanwhile at the NIH, long to learn the shots apDr. Barney Graham’s team peared to be working. figured out the right tar
But long before COget — how to use the aptly VID-19 was on the radar, named “spike” protein the groundwork was laid in that coats the coronavirus large part by two different to properly prime the imstreams of research, one mune system.