3 ms·

Then why haven’t we used them before? I’m not arguing with you btw, just asking a question as I have no knowledge in this area whatsoever.

D-Coder 6y ago
mRNAs against viruses were still in research until the past few years. Researchers were trying to use it against flu until COVID broke out. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/03/how-mrna-technology-could-change-world/618431/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/03/how-mrna-t...
- dhdhhdd 6y ago
  Devil's advocate: why were they not successful in developing one against flu, but we're quickly successful when creating one for covid?
  - sdenton4 6y ago
    There's a well established alternative for flu already? It's like asking why electric engine cars have taken so long to overtake petrol cars; there's a giant existing infrastructure and well known protocols for flu already, so the risk/reward balances aren't great for the newcomer.
    - dhdhhdd 6y ago
      Otoh having an established baseline can help understand the efficacy and cost comparison (and time to market), and with new technologies you might want to play it safe?
      - anonporridge 6y ago
        An emergency like Covid is the ideal environment to dismiss all concerns about efficacy and cost. The risk to losing some money on a failed vaccine is negligible compared to the cost dragging out the restrictions even just a little bit longer than necessary.
  - aemreunal 6y ago
    Disclaimer: no education in biotechnology or vaccines, just an observer who likes to nerd out on information and think about them. My understanding is that mRNA vaccines need a protein to target (since mRNAs make cells produce proteins). What makes SARS-CoV-2 particularly suited for this vaccine type was their spike proteins. My understanding it that the spike proteins are very unique to that virus type, was enveloping the virus and the human biology doesn't have something similar to that, so it was an easy (!) target for this vaccine type. At least one of those conditions above may not hold true for <insert virus name here>, which can make it difficult/unsuitable for mRNA vaccines to target. Again, I may be wrong (please correct me and give me the correct information if so), but this is my understanding.
Fomite 6y ago
Medical science is slow - and vaccine science moreso, because it is careful. mRNA vaccines were struggling to find a use case. A major pandemic like this is a huge, urgent shot in the arm, both in terms of money and motivation, that accelerates things.
- schoen 6y ago
  > A major pandemic like this is a huge, urgent shot in the arm, both in terms of money and motivation, that accelerates things. And even in terms of ... shots in the arm!

D-Coder 6y ago

mRNAs against viruses were still in research until the past few years. Researchers were trying to use it against flu until COVID broke out. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/03/how-mrna-technology-could-change-world/618431/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/03/how-mrna-t...

dhdhhdd 6y ago
Devil's advocate: why were they not successful in developing one against flu, but we're quickly successful when creating one for covid?
- sdenton4 6y ago
  There's a well established alternative for flu already? It's like asking why electric engine cars have taken so long to overtake petrol cars; there's a giant existing infrastructure and well known protocols for flu already, so the risk/reward balances aren't great for the newcomer.
  - dhdhhdd 6y ago
    Otoh having an established baseline can help understand the efficacy and cost comparison (and time to market), and with new technologies you might want to play it safe?
    - anonporridge 6y ago
      An emergency like Covid is the ideal environment to dismiss all concerns about efficacy and cost. The risk to losing some money on a failed vaccine is negligible compared to the cost dragging out the restrictions even just a little bit longer than necessary.
- aemreunal 6y ago
  Disclaimer: no education in biotechnology or vaccines, just an observer who likes to nerd out on information and think about them. My understanding is that mRNA vaccines need a protein to target (since mRNAs make cells produce proteins). What makes SARS-CoV-2 particularly suited for this vaccine type was their spike proteins. My understanding it that the spike proteins are very unique to that virus type, was enveloping the virus and the human biology doesn't have something similar to that, so it was an easy (!) target for this vaccine type. At least one of those conditions above may not hold true for <insert virus name here>, which can make it difficult/unsuitable for mRNA vaccines to target. Again, I may be wrong (please correct me and give me the correct information if so), but this is my understanding.

Fomite 6y ago

Medical science is slow - and vaccine science moreso, because it is careful. mRNA vaccines were struggling to find a use case. A major pandemic like this is a huge, urgent shot in the arm, both in terms of money and motivation, that accelerates things.

schoen 6y ago
> A major pandemic like this is a huge, urgent shot in the arm, both in terms of money and motivation, that accelerates things. And even in terms of ... shots in the arm!