Coronavirus: What makes mRNA vaccines better than traditional vaccines?

In a year's time while we have seen many vaccine companies step into the race to fight the novel coronavirus pandemic, there have also been some exciting innovations. Matching up to the traditional vaccines, we now have mRNA COVID vaccines which have been widely talked about, and now being used in several countries across the world, with high success rates.

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While India gets one step ahead in having its first mRNA vaccine ready, by providing emergency use grants to Moderna's innovative mRNA vaccine, there have also been reports talking about the apparent benefits of using mRNA vaccines, their high efficacy and the lifetime COVID immunity they may grant, in comparison to other vaccines we have.

Apart from Moderna, Pfizer's mRNA vaccine was also one of the first commercial COVID-19 vaccines to be approved for use. Never before COVID have mRNA vaccines received authorisation, yet, the scientific know-how which went into their making is what makes them so exciting and much more promising than other vaccines, according to many experts.

Are mRNA vaccines really the future in the world of vaccinations? Do they have an edge over traditional vaccines? We discuss....

Apart from Moderna, Pfizer's mRNA vaccine was also one of the first commercial COVID-19 vaccines to be approved for use. Never before COVID have mRNA vaccines received authorisation, yet, the scientific know-how which went into their making is what makes them so exciting and much more promising than other vaccines, according to many experts.

ALSO READ: List of international COVID-19 vaccines coming to India

Are mRNA vaccines really the future in the world of vaccinations? Do they have an edge over traditional vaccines? We discuss....

Vaccines train the immune system to fend off an attack by a pathogen.

Now, while traditional vaccines make use of a weakened or inactive part of a particular pathogen, or in this case, SARS-COV-2 virus, mRNA vaccines use a molecule called messenger RNA (or mRNA), rather than the actual pathogen to train the immune system.

Messenger RNA is a type of RNA that helps in protein production. mRNA vaccines work by introducing a part of mRNA that reacts to the viral protein. Once the immune system recognizes the foreign protein body, it accelerates production of antibodies and trains the immune system to recognize the virus in the future, thereby offering protection. To simplify, the mRNA technology is used to instruct the immune system to create a harmless piece similar to the actual spike protein, which then helps the body fight off future infections.

As with the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, the vaccines make use of mRNA which help cells produce copies of the spike protein, present outside the coronavirus membrane. Just as soon the genetic information about the SARS-COV-2 was available, scientists began designing mRNA codes to create the unique spike protein needed to create mRNA vaccines.

While this is the first time that mRNA vaccines have received high level authorisation, many pharmaceutical companies and vaccine majors are working on using mRNA technology to fight other infectious diseases and use them in other therapies as well. Some of the mRNA treatment plans are used to treat some forms of cancer and viral diseases as well.

The innovation mRNA vaccines bring with them has piqued the interests of many companies which are developing COVID-19 vaccines. As per information available, there are companies across the world, including in India which are working on rolling out mRNA vaccines.

Amongst the ones which have received authorisation nods, and are also some of the most famous ones are Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2) , Moderna Inc (mRNA- 1273), Novavax (also recognized as Covovax) mRNA vaccine shots, CureVac CVnCoV vaccine, being developed by Curevac and GSK, Sanofi's mRNA-based vaccine (named MRT 5500).

Apart from this, several vaccines are also said to be in development mode in India.

Some recent small scale studies have highlighted yet another advantage of using mRNA vaccines in our fight against coronavirus- their apparent ability to grant lifetime immunity.

While scientific experts currently debate on the need for the use of additional doses, or booster shots, a small number of studies have inferred that mRNA vaccines do not just generate a good antibody response, but also help immune cells remember the infection for a longer time, and hence, may grant immunity against coronavirus for a longer time.

Even though the study has limited backing, multiple studies have found that the mRNA vaccines are also much more capable of neutralizing antibodies against rapid variants of the virus, and offer more protection than other candidates.

The study, conducted on 40 people who had received Pfizer and Moderna mRNA shots, which has been published in the scientific journal, Nature, found that the people who had been fully inoculated may no longer need booster shots, had ample protection which could last beyond years, provided the virus doesn't mutate beyond its current forms. If the study's findings are indeed true, it may even cut the need for more vaccinations, and help us look forward to a coronavirus-free world, much more easily.

Pfizer's and Moderna's mRNA vaccines were amongst the ones to be globally accepted and pushed into use. Like all vaccines, mRNA vaccines are administered to prompt a durable immune response, which is achieved via injection of two doses. Compared to traditional vaccines, mRNA vaccines help generate a stronger type of immunity, which would also be more effective against the pathogen, since they work to stimulate the immune system to not just produce antibodies, but also generate immune cells which attack the virus doubly.

The efficacy and effectiveness of the mRNA vaccines has also been something experts feel is much higher than other vaccines. While traditional vaccines have their own set of benefits and pros, clinical studies and evaluations have proven that mRNA vaccines, such as the ones offered by Pfizer and Moderna are also much more effective against mutant strains of coronavirus and create a tolerable immune response.

Many experts also feel that the use of mRNA technology also helps developers to efficiently mimic many variants, modify approaches as needed and launch fights against difficult variants. As per scientists, multiple mRNAs can be encoded in a single vaccine, which could permit them to target many antigens at once, which is something traditional vaccines cannot.

Despite carrying higher costs, mRNA vaccine development can also optimize production costs and timelines, helping speed up product development and scalability.