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The “breakthrough” technology used to develop coronavirus vaccines could be used to tackle other diseases in the future, one expert said.
Both the Pfizer / BionTech and Moderna jabs use messenger RNA, or mRNA technology, which has not been used before in vaccines.
It works by introducing a messenger sequence into the body that contains the genetic instructions for the vaccinated person’s own cells to produce antigens and generate an immune response.
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This means that it can cause the immune system to produce protective antibodies without using the actual virus.
In the daily Sky News podcast, World Health Organization (WHO) epidemiologist Dr. Larry Brilliant described mRNA technology as a “breakthrough” that “has the potential to produce phenomenal side effects.”
He said: “The idea that messenger RNA can be used to instruct the body to make a cure or to make a sequence that leads to the cure or prevention of disease is impressive.
He added: “If it brings an era of RNA-type interventions, it can change many of the worst diseases we face.”
Dr. Brilliant said that a vaccine “is the most important thing” to defeat the virus, allowing us to “dump COVID in the dustbin of history.”
But he said that historically, “mass vaccination does not lead to the total end of a disease” and “it takes many years until you have a strategy that is a breakthrough.”
“There are more than 140 vaccines that are being worked on around the world. I’m waiting to see if any of these vaccines have a particular characteristic.”
The Pfizer vaccine has been shown to be 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 and works for all age groups.
The UK became the first country in the world to approve the vaccine, which will launch this week.
Pfizer / BioNTech jab to roll out in UK this week
The rapid approval by health regulator MHRA of the jab drew criticism from America’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who said the The UK vaccine approval process was “shallower” than that of the US.. He later backed off and apologized.
The UK decision was also criticized by Peter Liese, a German MEP and a member of Angela Merkel’s party, who said: “I consider this decision to be problematic and I recommend that EU Member States do not repeat the process in the same way.
“A few weeks of close scrutiny by the European Medicines Agency is better than a hasty emergency marketing authorization of a vaccine,” Liese said.
The American company Moderna had similarly encouraging results, saying that phase 3 trials showed that its experimental vaccine is also around 95% effective.
