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Originally Posted by Muta
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interesting who the Nobel committee gave the award to. These scientist made a very important discovery in 2005 on base-modified mRNA which conferred stability and elicited high protein expression of in vitro transcribed mRNA. It is one brick in the foundation that allows mRNA drugs or vaccines to work. As far as I can tell, they had no direct work on the covid vaccine or any affiliation with Pfizer or Moderna
In my scientific opinion, a group of scientists at University of Texas Austin were the ones who made the critical discovery that allowed the Covid Vaccine to work. Without their discovery, I do not believe the Covid mRNA vaccines would have worked anywhere near the ~90%. Hard to know what % efficacy the vaccines would have had; The expressed spike protein would not have had the proper structure to elicit a robust immune response, and perhaps it would not have worked at all. If the mRNA vaccine did not work well, it would have been a much longer wait for the other more traditional vaccine technologies to have reached the market.
Nothing against the winners; deserving recognition of their achievement, but I believe more scientists could have been included in the award.