Covid-19 vaccines could unlock treatments for 5 other deadly diseases - Inverse

Most Covid-19 vaccines are unlike any other vaccine that has ever come before them.

Traditional vaccines use a virus, both living and dead depending on the jab, to essentially teach our immune system to recognize the invader and destroy it next time.

Most approved Covid-19 vaccines are mRNA vaccines, which rely instead on our cells’ genetic blueprints for making proteins, pre-programming our cells to resist the virus’ now-famous spike protein before our cells come into contact with a virus.

Covid-19 vaccines are the first mRNA vaccines approved for use, but for more than 25 years scientists have chased these vaccines for diseases like cancer.

Now that safe mRNA vaccines are here, the potential to use the technology to create other breakthrough therapies could change how we treat cancer, HIV, Parkinson’s disease, and a host of other ailments by preventing them in the first place?

What makes an mRNA vaccine especially useful for this, Morris says, is that the mutations are unique and specific to each individual — even among those who have the same kind of cancer.

Because mRNA vaccines can be targeted, each vaccine could be personalized to the needs of an individual.

The short answer is not yet, but mRNA vaccines could change that.

mRNA vaccines change the game. With this technology, scientists could create a vaccine that inoculates against Types A and B in one shot. Some scientists believe that not only could we vaccinate against more than one flu strain using the same jab, but we might also be able to develop a flu vaccine with longer-lasting protection — one that we’d only need every five years..

To date, there is no approved Zika vaccine.

But the success of a safe mRNA Covid vaccine has tipped Moderna to start work on an mRNA vaccine for Zika.

To the best of our knowledge, the approved vaccines for Covid-19 significantly lower the risk of developing severe Covid-19 disease and death, even from the currently circulating variants of the virus.

“One exciting aspect of this technology is that the components of the mRNA vaccine can be readily re-engineered and ‘recoded’ by those who manufacture them in such a way that keeps up with viruses as they change and mutate,” Morris says

The Inverse analysis — Any future mRNA vaccines for other diseases beyond coronavirus are still in the very early phases of development

Correction: an earlier version of the article mistakenly identified AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine as an mRNA vaccine