The unheard story of how we almost blew the vaccine
Have you wondered how the COVID vaccine got to the hands of the general population so incredibly quickly?
Here is the brilliant story of an immigrant who refused to give up – thankfully so.
Their breakthrough saved the world from the worst of the pandemic—and opened a new world of medicines and vaccines for a huge range of diseases.
Here is her tale
#1 Hungarian biochemist Katalin Karikó had been trying to make mRNA vaccines work for 30 years while fighting scientific gatekeepers who thought her idea was absurd.
#2 Her grants were denied, her papers rejected, her speaking invitations withdrawn; eventually demoted. But she still refused to quit, and in 2005, she and collaborator Drew Weissman figured out how mRNA could direct our own cells to manufacture medicines to order
#3 A daughter of a butcher, Katalin Kariko grew up in Communist Hungary, in a home without TV, refrigerator, or running water. She became fascinated by mRNA in grad school—but when her lab ran out of funding in 1985, she decided to come to the States with her husband and 2-year-old daughter.
#4 She was refused funds and grants FOR YEARS. “Yeah, I did not get money. They always ask me that—you know, who is my supervisor? The woman, an accent, probably she wouldn’t come up with ideas like that”
#5 But at least two people cared a lot about the breakthrough. One of them was Ugur Sahin, cofounder of the German drug company BionTech, which would go on to develop the Biontech/Pfizer COVID vaccine. He hired Kariko in 2013; she works at Biontech to this day.
#6 She made almost nothing out of the deals licensing out her technology. But neither she nor Drew seem to hold any grudges.
“I am 66 old. My family, my husband, we never have a new car. Probably I’d never buy a new car, because we’re so used to it not to have a new one! “
“To us, solving the problem, developing the new findings, new technology, new treatments —to us that’s —what’s important. Grievances, who cares? “
#7 “The vaccine industry is going to pretty much all move over to RNA vaccines, simply because they— they’re very effective. They can be made very, very quickly. And ultimately, I think the cost of goods will be much cheaper.
It’s also being used —for, you know, oncology. So, cancer applications. I mean, I think the possibilities are limitless”
One of the best things I heard this weekend. Check out the comments for the podcast link
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#reviewswithranjani
#vaccines #mRNA #technologiesofthefuture
Source: https://unsungscience.com/the-podcast/season-1/mrna-vaccine/