3 ms·
There's nothing medically wrong with the approach, however protein based pharmaceuticals are slow and expensive to manufacture, which isn't ideal when you are t
by danzk 5y ago
There's nothing medically wrong with the approach, however protein based pharmaceuticals are slow and expensive to manufacture, which isn't ideal when you are trying to vaccinate millions of people, cheaply.
To manufacture a protein you need to create a genetically modified bacteria that contains the DNA for that protein, grow a large batch of this bacteria (which can be difficult at scale), and then break open the bacteria filter out all the other proteins and just keep the one you want.
This is why the mRNA is so elegant, it gives your body the instructions to manufacture the protein itself.
- noveltyaccount 5y agoGreat answer, thank you!
- maxerickson 5y agoThe mRNA vaccines are sliced out of plasmids grown in bacteria (as DNA which is then transcribed into RNA). https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/health/pfizer-coronavirus-vaccine.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/health/pfizer-coron...
- samus 5y agoThe nice thing about mRNA vaccines is that this has to be done only infrequently. The crucial point is that this DNA should be able to be transcribed into many mRNA molecules. Else, I have no idea how the one plant where the DNA is grown could supply the whole world.
- maxerickson 5y agoThe article I link implies they use each bottle of DNA in a day (not each batch, a bottle from the batch that they thaw for use). I imagine it's a quality control thing.