mRNA vaccines: The Solution To the Return to Normal Chinasa Emeribe

mRNA Vaccines: The Solution To the Return to Normal

Written by Chinasa Emeribe Designed by Amara Okafor

The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most impactful pandemics in modern history. The virus, SARS-CoV-2, was highly contagious Over the course of two years, the CDC reported that up to 80 million Americans were infected, with 978,254 people passing away from COVIDrelated deaths. American life changed drastically overnight, with the population entering heavy lockdown periods. With the arrival of a newer, albeit not completely new type of vaccine, messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, America was fi nally able to begin administering vaccines.

Pharmaceutical vaccine such as Pfi zer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s Messenger RNA vaccines work differently than conventional vaccines. In order to generate the body’s immune response, many vaccines put a weakened live virus or an inactivated virus into the body for antibodies to be generated. Alternatively, mRNA vaccines use mRNA synthesized in a laboratory, which introduce an mRNA sequence to code for the creation of a certain antigen protein. The body will then create antibodies for the antigen, which will build up immunization for exposure to the disease.

Several types of mRNA vaccines exist currently. These include non-replicating mRNA, in vivo-self-replicating mRNA, and In vitro dendritic cell non-replicating mRNA vaccine. Non-replicating mRNA is by far the simplest type of RNA vaccine with a single mRNA strand. In vivo-self-replicating mRNA packages the main pathogen-mRNA strand additional RNA strands, which allows for more antigen production for a smaller amount of vaccine. In vitro dendritic cell non-replicating mRNA vaccines use Dendritic cells, immune cells that can present antigens on their cell surface to cause an immune response. Dendritic cells are transfected with the mRNA vaccine to stimulate a stronger immune reaction.

There are multiple medical and fi nancial benefi ts to using mRNA vaccines. Since production of RNA vaccines is able to be quickly replicated in laboratories from DNA in a standardized manner, the production of the vaccine is less expensive and lengthy. This differs from conventional vaccines, which often use mammalian or chicken cells instead to grow the virus inside of, which then have to be isolated and purifi ed. Effi cacy is very good in mRNA vaccines, as one RNA molecule can make 1,000 to 100,000 proteins, which amplifi es the immune response. The safety of mRNA vaccines is safer than traditional vaccines, as they do not use any inactive infectious elements,with mammalian cells, often chicken cells being used instead to grow the virus inside of.

Although COVID vaccines were the fi rst type of mRNA vaccine to be produced and used on a population on a mass scale, they have been researched for decades, researching immunization effi cacy and success with diseases such as infl uenza, ebola, Zika, rabies, HIV cytomegalovirus, and even cancer. However, there are still other mRNA vaccines in early clinical stage trials. Currently, there are studies actively recruiting for mRNA vaccine trials in multiple countries at universities, medical centers, and hospitals. These new trials include both for testing of new COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, as well as for other viruses and illnesses, such as liver cancer, multiple sclerosis, and Respiratory Syncytial Virus. The safety of the mRNA vaccine has been verifi ed as safe for people to take. Dr. Weissman, a infectious disease expert at Penn Medicine, has been researching RNA for use in vaccines, and co-developed the mRNA technology for the Modera and Pfi zer vaccines. He asserts that there is the clinical risk/ benefi t ratio, which measures the risk of the vaccine to the risk of the disease, and that the vaccine is safe to take. As documented in mRNA vaccine clinical trials, RNA molecules are broken down easily, which help prevent drug toxicity. There is also the lipids used in the mRNA vaccine that are natural are therefore less toxic to the body. While some may experience moderate side fl u-like side effects, these side effects are both not dangerous and quickly reside.

Currently, Penn Medicine has started a new project on the use of mRNA vaccines for Human Immunodefi ciency Virus, or HIV. The HIV/AIDS Prevention Research Division will be hosting trials in a study know as HVTN 302, which is scheduled to be completed by July 2023, with results published by the following October. This study will be one of the fi rst studies to attempt HIV-infected DNA from the body in the hopes of neutralizing the deadly disease.

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