mRNA Vaccines: What Happens
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AzumaHazuki:
A question that comes up a lot about mRNA vaccines is what happens at the cellular level after you're injected with one. The mechanism of any such vaccine is to cause cells to produce a viral protein antigen, but which cells actually do this? It's also understood that mRNA vaccines tend to act as their own adjuvant and stimulate a further immune response that improves their efficacy - but how does that happen as well?
Let's dive into some details. But while doing so, I need to note up front that not all of these details are completely known, immunology being what it is. Still, over 25 years of work on the idea of mRNA vaccines have provided a lot of information, which (never forget!) is the only reason that the current vaccines could be developed so quickly. If you remember Tina Turner's 1986 song "Overnight Sensation", you'll have the right idea: after years (decades) of hard work, false starts, and expensive lessons learned, mRNA vaccines for infectious disease were finally ready to come out of nowhere. I've linked to this review before (open access), but it'll give you an idea of how long all this has been in the works.
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