Covid-19 mRNA Vaccines Win Nobel Prize for Medicine 2023

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

 

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman have been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries leading to mRNA vaccines, such as those that protect against Covid-19.

 

October 2, 2023

 

The Nobel Committee has awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their pioneering work in the development of mRNA vaccine technology, which made possible a timely vaccine response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Vaccines based on mRNA technology are widely credited with saving millions of lives and helping to curb the pandemic’s spread.

...

In 2005, Karikó and Weissman from the University of Pennsylvania discovered a way to slightly tweak the nucleotide sequence of the mRNA molecules so that they bypassed cellular immune surveillance to produce a protective immune response.

 

(more)

 

https://www.quantamagazine.org/covid-19-mrna-vaccines-win-nobel-prize-for-medicine-2023-20231002/

 

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/quanta-magazine/

 

 

[Bkk Brian]

Karikó and Weissman published their results in a 2005 paper that received little attention at the time, the Nobel Prize committee said, but later laid the foundation for critically important developments that served humanity during the Covid pandemic.

The committee praised the scientists’ “groundbreaking findings” which “fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system.”

“The laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times,” the committee added in a statement.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/02/europe/nobel-prize-medicine-mrna-covid-vaccines-2023-intl-scn/index.html

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Excerpt of Nobel Prize announcement:

 

"Several other vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, based on different methodologies, were also rapidly introduced, and together, more than 13 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been given globally. The vaccines have saved millions of lives and prevented severe disease in many more, allowing societies to open and return to normal conditions. Through their fundamental discoveries of the importance of base modifications in mRNA, this year’s Nobel laureates critically contributed to this transformative development during one of the biggest health crises of our time."

 

(more)

 

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2023/press-release/

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Katalin Karikó was born in 1955 in Szolnok, Hungary.... Since 2021, she has been a Professor at Szeged University and an Adjunct Professor at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Drew Weissman was born in 1959 in Lexington, Massachusetts, USA.... He is the Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research and Director of the Penn Institute for RNA Innovations.

 

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2023/press-release/

 

[Rimmer]

A post and replies contravening our Community Standards has been removed.    

[bobbin]

Not surprised the anti-vaxxers couldn't restrain themselves..

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I'm not a scientist, but I can read enough to know that the mRNA platform is currently being looked as a potential vehicle for all kinds of other vaccines and treatments for other conditions... far beyond just a vaccine for COVID...

 

I see Moderna has a webpage where they list all the other different vaccines and treatments based on mRNA technology that they are working on in various stages of development:

 

"Our mRNA pipeline shows the progress we’re making on clinical programs currently in development to create mRNA medicines for a wide range of diseases and conditions."

 

https://www.modernatx.com/research/product-pipeline

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

From COVID to cancer: High hopes for Nobel mRNA vaccines

...

What else can mRNA do?

Scientists have worked on developing mRNA jabs for illnesses like seasonal flu, rabies and Zika, as well as those that have remained vaccine-resistant until now, including malaria and AIDS.

 

Researchers have also started testing personalized treatments on cancer patients, using samples of the proteins in their tumors to create specialized mRNA.

 

This then triggers the immune system to target specific cancer cells.

 

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-10-covid-cancer-high-nobel-mrna.html

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 minutes ago, cmsally said:

https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/09/scientists-shocked-and-alarmed-at-whats-in-the-mrna-shots/

 

Scientists ‘shocked’ and ‘alarmed’ at what’s in the mRNA shots

Written by an anti-vax organization activist masquerading as a journalist.

 

Who has this and only this article in the Spectator, which sadly seems to have provided no bio info on the author accompanying the article...

 

But that's easily found elsewhere:

 

"She holds a BA Comms (UWA) and volunteers for Jab Injuries Australia."

 

https://substack.com/@rebekahbarnett

 

Sadly, these kinds of gutters of the internet oddballs are pretty much the sources produced by the anti-vax folks here most of the time.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

8 minutes ago, cmsally said:

He who creates a poison, also has the cure.

 

Many articles on how the mRNA vaccines suppress tumour necrosis factor as well as many other things in the body.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9012513/

And trotting out an article written by a bunch of documented COVID and vaccine misinformation peddlers:

 

The authors: Stephanie Seneff,^a,∗Greg Nigh,^bAnthony M. Kyriakopoulos,^c and Peter A. McCullough^d

 

From a 2022 FactCheck.org report on COVID and vaccine misinformation:

 

"Lead author Stephanie Seneff is a computer scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has falsely claimed that vaccines cause autism and has pushed a theory linking the herbicide glyphosate to COVID-19, among other unfounded scientific views. Senior author Dr. Peter McCullough is an internist who has repeatedly spread misinformation about COVID-19 treatments and the vaccines. Another author, Greg Nigh, practices naturopathy, a form of alternative medicine that has often embraced pseudoscientific methods."

 

https://www.factcheck.org/2022/07/scicheck-covid-19-vaccination-increases-immunity-contrary-to-immune-suppression-claims/

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

 

As it turns out, the FactCheck.org report I cited above regarding the article link you posted is in fact a report debunking their article....  And FactCheck.org was hardly the only entity or scientist who thought the article was misinformation rubbish:

 

"When the paper was first published in April, numerous critics condemned it, with some calling for it to be retracted. (That effort was denied. Notably, the paper appeared in the journal after the editor-in-chief put a call out for papers “on potential toxic effects of COVID-19 vaccines.”)

 

https://www.factcheck.org/2022/07/scicheck-covid-19-vaccination-increases-immunity-contrary-to-immune-suppression-claims/

 

Critics of the article linked above such as:

Scientific review articles as antivaccine disinformation

...

"it is a prime example of what I now refer to as misinformation (or disinformation) by scientific review article (or, more accurately, a pseudo-review article). It appears to have all the trappings of science, but its speculation goes far beyond what the science will support, all in the service of promoting a certain narrative and providing what seems to be scientific support for a pseudoscientific conspiracy theory."

 

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/scientific-review-articles-as-antivaccine-disinformation/

 

By:

 

David Gorski, MD, PhD

Surgeon/scientist promoting science-based medicine. Editor, Science-Based Medicine blog.

 

 

[cmsally]

So if these vaccines are so wonderful, why are people still suffering from Covid?

What are the point of all these articles? Do you want more people to get vaccinated, do you want to go back to lockdown. What are you suggesting?

On the one hand you post articles saying Covid hospitalisations are getting worse and on the other hand you post saying how wonderful the vaccines are. Do they work or don't they?

I have 3 quadruple vaccinated friends in Utah, who are currently suffering from Covid. Do you suggest that they get vaccinated again ? Seriously should they get vaccinated a fifth time.

Obviously this stuff is so wonderful it doesn't work if you have 4 shots!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

22 minutes ago, cmsally said:

So if these vaccines are so wonderful, why are people still suffering from Covid?

First, because some portion of the population (20-30% depending on the location) has refused to get vaccinated since the beginning because of bogus misinformation like that that's been posted above...

 

Second, because among some who were originally vaccinated several years ago with vaccines aimed at the original COVID strain, they haven't gone on to receive follow-up shots to protect against the newer strains of the COVID vaccine, leaving them vulnerable. With vaccine misinformation again playing a role in that.

 

And then third, just as with the flu vaccine and some others, the COVID vaccine doesn't provide 100% absolute protection, so there end up being a smaller portion of so-called breakthrough illnesses even among vaccinated people.

 

These days, for people who have stayed up to date with their vaccines, the protection against serious COVID illness is pretty strong, less so against mild or asymptomatic infection.

 

But the current vaccines right now do need to have new shots periodically, just like the annual flu shots need to be re-taken. And the rubbish misinformation posted above and elsewhere only discourages people from doing so.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I guess it comes down to whether to believe your personal opinion as someone who rarely presents a credible source for anything, or that of respected scientists and researchers and the Nobel Prize committee members, who wrote above:

 

"The vaccines have saved millions of lives and prevented severe disease in many more, allowing societies to open and return to normal conditions."

 

Multiple studies have estimated that COVID vaccines saved anywhere between 15-20 million lives in the early going of the pandemic.

 

That's certainly Nobel Prize worthy:

 

COVID vaccines saved 20 million lives in first year, study says

Nearly 20 million lives were saved by COVID-19 vaccines during their first year, but even more deaths could have been prevented if international targets for the shots had been reached, researchers reported Thursday.

...

The researchers used data from 185 countries to estimate that vaccines prevented 4.2 million COVID-19 deaths in India, 1.9 million in the United States, 1 million in Brazil, 631,000 in France and 507,000 in the United Kingdom."

 

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/covid-vaccines-saved-20-million-lives-in-first-year-study-says

 

 

 

[atpeace]

7 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

I guess it comes down to whether to believe your personal opinion or that of respected scientists and researchers and the Nobel Prize committee members, who wrote above:

 

"The vaccines have saved millions of lives and prevented severe disease in many more, allowing societies to open and return to normal conditions."

 

 

Seems like the tide is changing. I wonder how your vaccine perspective will age.  Not well is my bet.  It is nice being able to express opinions again without the angry "only our believes matter" mob.  I think you would be better informed if you saw both sides of this issue but I know from past posts you have made that other perspectives are irrelevant.  Seems to me to be a sad way of living but maybe I'm wrong and your a pleasant chap with loads of real life friends.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

10 minutes ago, atpeace said:

Seems like the tide is changing. I wonder how your vaccine perspective will age.  Not well is my bet.  It is nice being able to express opinions again without the angry "only our believes matter" mob.  I think you would be better informed if you saw both sides of this issue but I know from past posts you have made that other perspectives are irrelevant.  Seems to me to be a sad way of living but maybe I'm wrong and your a pleasant chap with loads of real life friends.

I'm fine for credible sources and opinions of whatever stripe. I'm not fine for proven and documented junk and misinformation peddlers who misrepresent, distort or just plain lie about stuff.

 

Or, as is sometimes the case with rubbish sources posted here, anti-vax computer scientists, psychologists, veterinarians and the like who pose as experts about COVID, immunology and vaccines when they're way way out of their fields.

 

 

[Dan O]

1 hour ago, cmsally said:

So if these vaccines are so wonderful, why are people still suffering from Covid?

What are the point of all these articles? Do you want more people to get vaccinated, do you want to go back to lockdown. What are you suggesting?

On the one hand you post articles saying Covid hospitalisations are getting worse and on the other hand you post saying how wonderful the vaccines are. Do they work or don't they?

I have 3 quadruple vaccinated friends in Utah, who are currently suffering from Covid. Do you suggest that they get vaccinated again ? Seriously should they get vaccinated a fifth time.

Obviously this stuff is so wonderful it doesn't work if you have 4 shots!

if you bother to research any information on Covid vaccines you'll find they aren't claimed to stop contraction of covid but to lessen the effects and reduce impacts, hospitalization and deaths. Just like Flu vaccines dont stop you from getting the flu as flu and covid both mutate into new and different strains on a very regular basis, some more resistant than others. Do your homework and make an informed choice. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

9 minutes ago, Dan O said:

if you bother to research any information on Covid vaccines you'll find they aren't claimed to stop contraction of covid but to lessen the effects and reduce impacts, hospitalization and deaths. Just like Flu vaccines dont stop you from getting the flu as flu and covid both mutate into new and different strains on a very regular basis, some more resistant than others. Do your homework and make an informed choice. 

When the original vaccines were released aimed at the original COVID strain, they did a pretty good job also at preventing routine infection... But then the original virus mutated into different and more vaccine-resistant strains, and the protection against mere infection lessened at that point, while the protection against serious COVID illness and death remained relatively strong.

 

One of the challenges with COVID as a pandemic is that the virus spreads and mutates far faster than science can research, test, produce and roll out billions of vaccine doses... So the vaccines these days are, at least for now, usually playing a bit of catch up.

 

Science is working right now on trying develop longer lasting, more broadly protective COVID vaccines for the future, but they're not here yet.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

From COVID to cancer: High hopes for Nobel mRNA vaccines

...

What else can mRNA do?

Scientists have worked on developing mRNA jabs for illnesses like seasonal flu, rabies and Zika, as well as those that have remained vaccine-resistant until now, including malaria and AIDS.

 

Researchers have also started testing personalized treatments on cancer patients, using samples of the proteins in their tumors to create specialized mRNA.

 

This then triggers the immune system to target specific cancer cells.

 

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-10-covid-cancer-high-nobel-mrna.html

 

 

 

Happened across further info on this (future use of mRNA) in my nightly reading today:

 

August 31, 2023

 

Physicians reckon with 'profound' impact of COVID-19

...

"The technology is being explored for other vaccines. The NIAID initiated a phase 1 clinical trial of three experimental mRNA HIV vaccines last year and, in May of this year, launched a phase 1 trial testing an experimental universal influenza vaccine that uses the technology. Also, in July, Moderna asked the FDA to begin reviewing its application to approve a respiratory syncytial virus vaccine candidate based on mRNA technology."

 

https://www.healio.com/news/infectious-disease/20230831/physicians-reckon-with-profound-impact-of-covid19

 

 

 

[Bkk Brian]

8 hours ago, WhatMeWorry said:

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2023-09-27/just-23-of-u-s-adults-definitely-plan-to-get-new-covid-shot

 

I think most people are done with the experimental Covid vaccines including me.

However you could also read past the headline as your version of the link is not quite what the reality is.

 

“The poll shows that most of the nation still trusts the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] on vaccines -- but there is a partisan gap, and most Republicans don’t trust the nation’s regulatory and scientific agencies responsible for vaccine approval and guidance,” KFF President and CEO Drew Altman said in an organization news release.

Fewer than half of Americans (46%) say they will "definitely" or "probably" get the new COVID shot -- that's higher than the percentage who have received previous boosters, though still lower than those who got the initial vaccines in 2020.

Interest is highest among those 65 and older (64%) and among Democrats (70%). About 24% of Republicans plan to get the shot.

[TorquayFan]

I'm certainly NOT anti-vax but I do share the many reservations about mRNA.  Further, Pfizer and Moderna are reported to have increased prices five fold for the current covid vax.

 

DNA vaccines could be the way forward - Texas BioMed are working with a DNA vaccine already tested in RSA - NO side effects and needle free delivery. Addressing the nucleosid of the protein it is able to address new variants more effectively. https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2023/10/02/new-type-of-covid-vaccine-showing-promise-at-texas-biomed/

 

This vaccine was developed by Scancell in Nottingham UK but they are preoccupied with their own well advanced platforms for cancer vaccines, e.g. their SCIB1 for stage 3 / 4 melanoma having recently reported responses of 80% in conjunction with the 'standard of care' CPI's alone, achieving only 50% responses.

 

Good luck to BioMed and Scancell.

 

Well done the Nobel winners . . . .

 

 

 

 

[Red Phoenix]

7 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

... So the vaccines these days are, at least for now, usually playing a bit of catch up.

Science is working right now on trying develop longer lasting, more broadly protective COVID vaccines for the future, but they're not here yet.

These are your words, and yet you are still on a 24-7 mission trying to convince people to stay up to date with their booster-shots, and denying any adverse effects from these wonder-jabs...

[cdnvic]

Posts containing misinformation contrary to our community standards have been removed. Some have remained where the reply to them has served to correct common misconceptions.

[stevenl]

21 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

These are your words, and yet you are still on a 24-7 mission trying to convince people to stay up to date with their booster-shots, and denying any adverse effects from these wonder-jabs...

Nobody is denying adverse effects.

[cdnvic]

9 hours ago, cmsally said:

So if these vaccines are so wonderful, why are people still suffering from Covid?

Just to clear up a misconception:

 

1. Vaccines create antibodies to fight infections inside your body. This is how every single vaccine, MRNA or otherwise, works. They are not a shield that prevents the pathogen from entering your body. That is physically impossible.
2. The greater amount of antibodies present when the pathogen enters the body, the quicker they are able to destroy the pathogen. This leads to a less severe infection, and faster recovery.

It's simple mathematics. Antibodies kill infections. The fewer there are, the longer it takes the body to produce enough to clear the infection. The vaccine cannot prevent you from getting the virus, it only kills it faster.

 

 

Now, we've had about enough with the misinformation and dubious sources around here. If you want to talk bad science and long debunked conspiracies you'll find an endless amount of places to do so, but this won't be one of them. If you insist on spreading it here you will face account action. Enough is enough.

[stevenl]

27 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

Well, that's not what they told us, when rolling out these '100% safe and effective' poison-shots.   

That's exactly what they told you.

[cmsally]

Well all I can say is it's a shame I wasn't warned about the debilitating Guillain-Barre like symptoms that I and thousands of others suffered (on top of all the other effects). If I had of known I would have taken the informed consent much more seriously and decided against it. All I can say is that I hope no one takes all the one sided "information" on board and has to suffer like I had to suffer. I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy and that would include the people on this forum. I would encourage everyone to do due diligence and that involves a wide range of reading from all sources available. Just remember at the end of the day, statistics are people and you could be one of them.

[stevenl]

18 minutes ago, cmsally said:

Well all I can say is it's a shame I wasn't warned about the debilitating Guillain-Barre like symptoms that I and thousands of others suffered (on top of all the other effects). If I had of known I would have taken the informed consent much more seriously and decided against it. All I can say is that I hope no one takes all the one sided "information" on board and has to suffer like I had to suffer. I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy and that would include the people on this forum. I would encourage everyone to do due diligence and that involves a wide range of reading from all sources available. Just remember at the end of the day, statistics are people and you could be one of them.

Too many fringe and lunatic websites and information out there to trust 'all sources available '. Stick to credible sources.

[cmsally]

14 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Too many fringe and lunatic websites and information out there to trust 'all sources available '. Stick to credible sources.

I managed to heal myself by researching hundreds of articles as well as the good old scientific trial and error. It was through that trial and error I discovered some things that worked very well. I was eating turmeric , pineapple and natto before there were any articles on them.

The most avid researcher is the one whose life depends on it not the one who is being paid to do it.

[atpeace]

57 minutes ago, Dan O said:

Might want to go back and check your facts on that and not from social media

BIDEN: “You’re not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations.” — town hall. 

 

Many were telling us vaccines would end the spread.  Biden was off base and honestly I'm probably going to make more mistakes at his age.  Many other officials were telling us that the vaccine would almost eliminate getting the virus minus rare breakthrough infections.  We learned within months that this was far from the truth and many started doubting the vaccine. 

 

I personally still believe the vaccines were an incredible accomplishment with a positive impact on the spread and fatality rates.  What upset many of us was that we were not allowed to freely express any doubts.  It was a sad time and weak people became powerful and abused this power.  Shame on them and all the hatred they promoted in the name of doing good.  Some good people lost their minds is how I look  back on the covid era.  Forgive and move on.