SOCIEDADE
THE VACCINE REVOLUTION H O W M R N A C A N S TO P T H E N E X T PA N D E M I C B E F O R E I T S TA R T S
B Y N I C O L E L U R I E *, J A K O B P. C R A M E R * * AND RICHARD J. HATCHETT ***
T
he novel coronavirus—SARS-CoV-2—exploded onto the world stage about a year and a half ago, infecting hundreds of millions of people, killing millions, and causing immense social and economic disruption. But just under a year after the deadly virus emerged in China, governments were able to authorize the use of vaccines against COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. Vaccines that rely on messenger RNA, or mRNA, were among the first across 96
the finish line, progressing from the genetic sequencing of the virus to human trials in less than three months. Last December, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency-use authorization to an mRNA vaccine produced via a partnership between the U.S. company Pfizer and the German firm BioNTech and to another developed by the U.S. company Moderna, after clinical trials demonstrated that both were about 95 percent effective in preventing COVID-19. The public marveled at the speed of
