3 ms·

moderna has invented a vaccine platform on mrna. they started with covid and have proven they can target diseases using this platform. so keeping the delivery m

moderna has invented a vaccine platform on mrna. they started with covid and have proven they can target diseases using this platform. so keeping the delivery mechanism the same, they are targeting many other diseases. but was it successful? the covid vaccine loses effectiveness after 8-12 weeks. i don’t know if this is specific to sars-cov-2 and it’s mutations or the mrna delivery platform.

christophilus 5y ago
If they can do for other diseases what they did for COVID— significantly reducing severity— it’d be a huge win even if it wasn’t inoculating.
qbasic_forever 5y ago
It's more that sars-cov-2 is just a nasty virus with exceptionally good skills at evading the immune system, not that mRNA vaccine tech doesn't work after a few months. From what I understand covid-19 can suppress the immune system response and replicate before your body can really detect or react to it. It's only if you have a recent supply of covid-19 spike protein antibodies floating around your blood, like if you were recently vaccinated/boosted, that your immune system can get a faster alarm and head start at clearing a real infection. So really any vaccine mRNA or not that's targeting the spike protein is going to see similar waning efficacy against infection. We see this with the Johnson and Johnson and Astrazenica shots which don't use mRNA tech for example.
bawolff 5y ago
The wanning effectiveness was still going from "amazing" to "just ok". "Just ok" is still a really big impact and a lot more than nothing, so its not like it becomes worthless or anything.
noahtallen 5y ago
Another counterexample is the flu vaccine. It never purports to eradicate flu, but it helps with the season. The unfortunate reality is that some diseases change and evolve quickly enough that the immune system can’t defeat every new variant, even with bolstered protection against previous ones. Like you’ll catch a cold from time to time, or perhaps the flu. The immunity you developed previously didn’t stop that because the disease evolved.

christophilus 5y ago

If they can do for other diseases what they did for COVID— significantly reducing severity— it’d be a huge win even if it wasn’t inoculating.

qbasic_forever 5y ago

It's more that sars-cov-2 is just a nasty virus with exceptionally good skills at evading the immune system, not that mRNA vaccine tech doesn't work after a few months. From what I understand covid-19 can suppress the immune system response and replicate before your body can really detect or react to it. It's only if you have a recent supply of covid-19 spike protein antibodies floating around your blood, like if you were recently vaccinated/boosted, that your immune system can get a faster alarm and head start at clearing a real infection. So really any vaccine mRNA or not that's targeting the spike protein is going to see similar waning efficacy against infection. We see this with the Johnson and Johnson and Astrazenica shots which don't use mRNA tech for example.

bawolff 5y ago

The wanning effectiveness was still going from "amazing" to "just ok". "Just ok" is still a really big impact and a lot more than nothing, so its not like it becomes worthless or anything.

noahtallen 5y ago

Another counterexample is the flu vaccine. It never purports to eradicate flu, but it helps with the season. The unfortunate reality is that some diseases change and evolve quickly enough that the immune system can’t defeat every new variant, even with bolstered protection against previous ones. Like you’ll catch a cold from time to time, or perhaps the flu. The immunity you developed previously didn’t stop that because the disease evolved.