The mRNA Platform: What It Is, What It Means
The mRNA Platform: What It Is, What It Means ALAN LASH Back in the spring of 2020 we learned that Operation Warp Speed was hard at work creating a vaccine faster than one had ever been created before. From the decades-long history of vaccine development, we knew that vaccines took 5 to 10 years to make. The subsequent clinical trials could take longer. How was this possible? When did this scientific leap take place? What was this fantastic new technology that would make such rapid development a reality? We quickly learned that the new vaccine would use something called mRNA technology. And there were several companies ready to make it happen. The way mRNA works is not like the way any vaccine worked before. Formerly, vaccines were created by taking a weakened or dead form of the virus and injecting that into humans. The human body would create antibodies to fight and beat the weakened virus, thus giving the body the instructions to create antibodies against it if the full force v