Thread by @aayushjaiswal07

"We’d need a miracle treatment that was at least 95 percent effective to stop the outbreak." - Bill Gates, April 2020.

Well, we pulled off a Miracle I guess.

A thread 🧵👇

2 of the "most trusted" vaccines are Fizer & Moderna. Both of them announced that their vaccine had an efficacy rate of 95% last month and their vaccines have been approved for early/limited/emergency usage in the US.

Coincidently, these are the only two developers to use mRNA.

A next-gen vaccination platform, mRNA or Messenger Ribonucleic Acid is genetic information that our cells read to make proteins.

In COVID’s case, mRNA will prompt the cells to make a SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and thus train the immune system in recognizing the virus.

If you're a person at the intersection of someone who'll get these vaccines & a nerd, here's how it works.

Step 1: Coronavirus uses its spikes produced by the spike proteins inside it to enter a human cell. Scientists synthetically create the genetic sequence (mRNA) that our cells can read for building the spike protein.

Step 2: The mRNA molecules are fragile and can be destroyed by the natural enzymes present in our body if they are injected directly, so they are wrapped in an oily bubble made of lipid nanoparticles. This bubble containing mRNA (vaccine) is then injected into the human body.

Step 3: The vaccine particle upon getting injected bumps into the human cell and fuses with it to release mRNA into the cell.

The cell’s internal machinery then reads this sequence and starts producing the spike protein and the mRNA from the vaccine is eventually destroyed.

The spike proteins produced form spikes on the cell’s surface, some of this protein is broken into fragments and that too makes it to the surface.

Step 4: When the vaccinated cell dies, it releases debris of protein fragments and spike proteins that is detected by the immune system to trigger a response.

Though mRNA came into the limelight recently, it was originally developed to cure cancer, but it kept hitting roadblocks.

The story of mRNA is the story of a Scientist’s Unwavering Determination: Katalin Karikó.

She is the scientist behind its discovery, never gave up despite facing multiple rejections for decades before it turned into a multi-billion dollar technology.

Telegram reports: "“For more than four decades, Prof Karikó has relentlessly explored how the single-stranded molecules of genetic code could be used to treat conditions from strokes and cancer to influenza.

Despite demotions, countless grant rejections, and, at points, deep skepticism from fellow scientists, she ploughed on.”

If it wasn’t for Karikó’s determination and strong will power, the world wouldn’t be on the brink of this key breakthrough to tackle COVID.

Besides this, countries will face multiple challenges to secure the vaccine. Here's how the distribution looks like.

2020 has been rough, but it gave us the right perspective to look at life, appreciate things that we missed & push our limits to pull off miracles.

Wish y'all great holidays & a very happy new year!