mRNA Vaccines

mRNA Vaccines

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – While many low- and middle-income countries have received by far insufficient supply of vital COVID-19 vaccines so far, vaccine inequity has been most striking in Africa.

Moderna said it will not enforce patents related to its vaccine during the pandemic, but it is yet to transfer technology to the South African hub.

Concept –

• The WHO and COVAX, wanted low and middle income countries to produce COVID-19 vaccines themselves to have easy access to vaccines in their fight against the  pandemic and need not wait for  For this, WHO  is facilitating  establishment of technology transfer hubs to transfer necessary technology to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines and provide training to interested manufacturers in these countries.
• The initial focus has been on developing vaccines using the mRNA vaccine platform and expanding to other technologies in the future.

Reasons for choosing mRNA vaccines

• They have been found to be extremely efficacious in protecting against COVID-19, and protection is maintained to a large degree against variants.
• The technology needed to manufacture mRNA vaccines is very flexible and allows relatively rapid adaptation of the vaccine to variants, if needed.
• Such vaccines can be produced by manufacturers of medicines and medical active substances
• The availability of several technical features that are free of Intellectual Property Rights in many countries of the world.
• The WHO, a South African consortium — Biovac, Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, a network of universities and the Africa CDC — and COVAX partners are working to set-up the first technology transfer hub in South Africa under the assumption that companies like Pfizer and Moderna will show a willingness to transfer technologies

Research funded

• Moderna was given $1 billion as part of Operation Warp Speed to specifically fund its research efforts. Moderna’s vaccine was in part developed by National Institutes of Health.
• The US President can legally compel mRNA manufacturers to sign technology transfer contracts in exchange for reasonable compensation. The Defense Production Act of 1950 confers vast powers to act for the national defense. The DPA specifically includes “emergency preparedness.”

To know about mRNA Vaccines, please click here.

To know about DNA-based Vaccines, please click here.