Vaccines against coronavirus were developed using new technology that scientists are now using to create drugs against HIV, cancer flu and similar diseases. All approved vaccine candidates were created using messenger RNA (mRNA), which does not use the virus itself to create the body ‘s immune response. The success has prompted companies to accelerate efforts on using the mRNA technique to treat a number of other diseases, with Moderna announcing three vaccine projects earlier this month.
One of the projects that Moderna has done involves vaccinating against HIV, which kills millions of people every year. The company has already begun developing two vaccine candidates that are expected to go through human testing later this year. Another ambitious vaccine being developed by American medicine includes that against the common flu.
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The move has also encouraged other companies to undertake similar projects. Talking to NewsWeek, a representative of Pfizer revealed that the company had been working on the common flu virus, along with BioNTech, for a long time. At the same time, Moderna announced a project aimed at developing a vaccine against the Nipah virus. In addendum, several other companies are aiming to develop cancer vaccines using the mRNA method.
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How does new technology work?
Traditional vaccines use modified or killed viruses, or parts of proteins present in the virus, to train the body ‘s immune system to kill infections before they become infected. The new mRNA vaccines stimulate the body to produce the virus protein, which in the case of COVID-19 is a “spike” protein used by the coronavirus to enter cells, without using any of these viruses, as reported by NewsWeek.
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This comes when the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on January 22 that it had reached an agreement with Pfizer / BioNTech for 40 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine. The agreement was made as part of the DA group’s advanced COVAX program aimed at placing residents in underdeveloped and developing countries. Following successful vaccination, the WHO now plans to begin rolling out as early as February. Although a circulation plan has not yet been decided, experts have speculated that health workers would be a priority.