In what could come as a wake up call to the noisy antivaxx brigade on HC and elsewhere, two mRNA vaccine pioneers have been awarded the Nobel Prize in 2023 in physiology and medicine.
Nobel Prizes are five separate prizes that , according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind."
the awards are held in the highest esteem by anyone with knowledge in the area.
while it would be refreshing to think antivaxxers might review their flimsy antivaxx stance in light of these awards, most surely won't as they are rusted on, indeed truly wedded to the conspiracies, lies and misinformation they peddle.
ignorance and arrogance is a dangerous combo for those who love the emotional safe harbour where antivaxxers never have to admit they just don't know.
Finally, congratulations to these two brilliant scientists, and thanks for your work, i'm one of the billions of beneficiaries from it.
the world's major media are all reporting this news. BELOW is the start of The Guardian's report.
THE GUARDIAN
"Two scientists have been awarded the 2023 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine for their contributions to RNA biology that contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during the Covid pandemic.
"Prof Katalin Karikó and Prof Drew Weissman share the 11m Swedish kronor (£823,000) prize announced on Monday by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.
"The Nobel committee awarded the prize for their discoveries concerning “nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against Covid-19”.
"These vaccines work by smuggling the genetic instructions for making viral proteins into our cells, enabling them to churn out large amounts of this protein and prime the immune cells to fight the virus.
"A significant obstacle in the development of such vaccines was early prototypes of these synthetic mRNAs provoked inflammatory reactions, making them unsuitable for medical use.Together, Karikó and Weissman discovered that by making small chemical tweaks to the mRNA molecules, they could not only abolish these unwanted inflammatory responses, but also markedly increased production of the target protein. This approach became the basis for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
"Prof John Tregoning, a vaccine immunologist at Imperial College London, said: “They demonstrated that changing the type of the RNA nucleotides within the vaccine altered the way in which cells see it. This increased the amount of vaccine protein made following the injection of the RNA, effectively increasing the efficiency of the vaccination: more response for less RNA."
