Why Didn’t the Fathers of Coronavirus Vaccines Win a Nobel Prize This Year?

This year most of the pools for Nobel Prize in Medicine They bet it would be for three coronavirus vaccine discoverers: Katalin Cariko, Drew Weissman and Robert Langer. The third is a pioneer of messenger RNA (mRNA) technology for the treatment and prevention of multiple pathologies. Instead, the first two used their patented technology to combat COVID-19 pandemic. They certainly deserve it. However, the award eventually went to evolutionary geneticist Svante Paabo, who was also the clear winner.

Does this mean they can no longer win the Nobel Prize? Never. In fact, the research for which Paabo received the award was mostly in the 90s and early 2000s. Quite often, these awards are given years or even decades after the great find that prompted them, so there is still hope for Kariko, Weissman and Langer.

Of course, probably, although they did not win, but they were among the nominees. The problem is, we can’t know because the list of candidates isn’t released until half a century after the award ceremony. Nevertheless, there is reason to hope that in a few years, finally, parents vaccinated against coronavirus Add this to your huge list of rewards.

Why do coronavirus vaccines deserve a Nobel Prize?

Every coronavirus vaccine developed so far has been a key weapon in the fight against COVID-19. From AstraZeneca to Moderna, through Pfizer-BionTech and Janssen, they have all saved millions of lives after a race against time that showed the importance invest in science to advance society.

However, AstraZeneca and Janssen used technologies that have been used in the past to develop vaccines. Instead, both Pfizer-BionTech and Moderna relied on mRNA technology previously developed by Langer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). At both companies, Cariko of BionTech and Weissman of the University of Pennsylvania created the first coronavirus vaccine based on this technology.

This is a tool that can still give a lot in development of future vaccines. And the fact is that mRNA is a molecule that carries instructions for the protein factories of cells, called ribosomes, to produce specific proteins. We can get our cells to make the protein we need, from a protein whose deficiency causes disease to a protein in a virus that doesn’t work. believe to the immune system that an infection has occurred.

Thus, vaccines against other viruses as dangerous as HIV are already being studied. Or even against parasites such as the cause of malaria. In addition, several studies are currently underway on the use of mRNA technology in new methods of cancer immunotherapy.

For all this, both the mRNA technology and the vaccines developed on its basis deserve the award.

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