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 Some scientists say it is just a matter of time: If the work that
went into developing the vaccines is not recognised when this year's
prize is announced on Monday, it will win the award in years to
come.
More than 4.7 million people have died from COVID-19 since the first
cases of the novel coronavirus were registered in 2019, and many
countries still live under severe restrictions intended to curb its
spread.
But COVID-19 vaccines have helped some wealthy states return almost
to normality while others are yet to receive vaccine doses in large
quantities.
Among those seen by other scientists as potential winners of the
Nobel Prize for Medicine are Hungarian-born Katalin Kariko and
American Drew Weissman for their work on what are known as Messenger
ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines.
The mRNA vaccines developed by Moderna and by Pfizer and its German
partner BioNTech have revolutionised the fight against the virus.
They are quick to produce and highly effective.
"This technique will get the prize sooner or later, of that I am
sure," said Ali Mirazami, professor at the Department of Laboratory
Medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. "The question is
when."
Traditional vaccines, which introduce a weakened or dead virus to
stimulate the body's immune system, can take a decade or more to
develop. Moderna's mRNA vaccine went from gene sequencing to the
first human injection in 63 days.
The mRNA carries messages from the body's DNA to its cells, telling
them to make the proteins needed for critical functions, such as
coordinating biological processes including digestion or fighting
disease.
The new vaccines use laboratory-made mRNA to instruct cells to make
the coronavirus' spike proteins, which spur the immune system into
action without replicating like the actual virus.
[to top of second column] |
 DECADES OF WORK
The mRNA was discovered in 1961 but it has taken
scientists decades to cure the mRNA technique
from problems such as instability and causing
inflammatory conditions.
Developers now hope it can be used to treat both
cancer and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) in
the future. "In addition to the
fact that they have been shown to generate a very effective immune
response, you do not have to tailor the production every time you
make a new vaccine," said Adam Frederik Sander Bertelsen, Associate
Professor at the University of Copenhagen and chief scientific
officer at vaccine company Adaptvac.
"It has actually saved countless thousands of people due to its
speed and efficiency, so I can well support that."Kariko, 66, laid
the groundwork for the mRNA vaccines and Weissman, 62, is her
long-time collaborator. [L1N2I2315]
"They are the brain behind the mRNA discovery," said Mirazami. He
added: "They might be too young, the (Nobel) committee usually wait
until the recipients are in their 80s."
Kariko, with colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, made a
breakthrough by figuring out how to deliver mRNA without kicking the
immune system into overdrive.
The Nobel Prize was founded by dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel and is
awarded for achievements in Medicine, Chemistry, Literature, Peace
and Physics. This year's winners are announced between Oct. 4 and
11, starting with Medicine.
(Additional reporting by Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen, editing by
Timothy Heritage)
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