As many laboratories around the world are trying to produce a vaccine against Covid-19, it turns out that the American pharmaceutical company Moderna took just two days to design its proposal.
Recall that for more than three decades, scientific teams have been trying to create a vaccine against a coronavirus, and the fact that the company designed one for two days makes it one of the greatest scientific advances of the decade.
The Moderna vaccine uses m-RNA technology and is based on messenger RNA, a piece of ribonucleic acid that carries information about the amino acid sequence of a specific protein from DNA. In simple terms, we can see mRNA as a USB device that cells use to transfer information from a computer (DNA) to another device, such as a printer (ribosome). Thus, they can trick the ribosomes and make them produce the proteins we want.
While other vaccines take genetic information from a virus and cultivate it in a human cell, the mRNA method simply requires the genetic code of the virus, thus shortening the production process.
This technology is the basis for two of the most advanced vaccines: Moderna and Pfizer. Therefore, if their labs are successful, the achievement will be far greater than just preventing Covid-19. These companies will test the power of technology to change medicine and the pharmaceutical industry.
The Moderna vaccine was 94.5% effective, while the Pfizer vaccine was 95%, according to phase 3 results.
Sources: Entrepreneur, New York Times
