Moderna and mRNA Vaccine Research

While Moderna continues the human-wide, government-promoted and mandated Phase 3 trials of its unprecedented mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine, the company appears to be putting significant effort into advancing its mRNA-based vaccine research inventory.  

 

Here is how Moderna defines mRNA (messenger RNA):

 

"Messenger RNA, or mRNA, plays a fundamental role in human biology, transferring the instructions stored in DNA to make the proteins required in every living cell. mRNA provides instructions to cells to make protein. Moderna’s approach is to use mRNA medicines to instruct a patient’s own cells to produce proteins that could prevent, treat, or cure disease. We are also working to advance the development mRNA therapeutics that restore the activity of missing enzymes responsible for various rare diseases, such as methylmalonic acidemia (MMA) and propionic acidemia (PA)."

  

Messenger RNA vaccines are a completely new line of vaccines.  Here is some background information on mRNA vaccines from Harvard Health Blog

 

"The main goal of a vaccine for a particular infectious agent, such as the virus that causes COVID-19, is to teach the immune system what that virus looks like. Once educated, the immune system will vigorously attack the actual virus, if it ever enters the body.

 

Viruses contain a core of genes made of DNA or RNA wrapped in a coat of proteins. To make the coat of protein, the DNA or RNA genes of the virus make messenger RNA (mRNA); the mRNA then makes the proteins. An mRNA of a specific structure makes a protein of a specific structure.

 

About 30 years ago, a handful of scientists began exploring whether vaccines could be made more simply. What if you knew the exact structure of the mRNA that made the critical piece of a virus’s protein coat, such as the spike protein of the COVID-19 virus?

 

It is relatively easy to make that mRNA in the laboratory, in large amounts. What if you injected that mRNA into someone, and the mRNA then traveled through the bloodstream to be gobbled up by immune system cells, and then those cells started to make the spike protein? Would that educate the immune system?

 

While the concept seems simple, it required decades of work for mRNA vaccines to overcome a series of hurdles. First, scientists learned how to modify mRNA so that it did not produce violent immune system reactions. Second, they learned how to encourage immune system cells to gobble up the mRNA as it passed by in the blood. Third, they learned how to coax those cells to make large amounts of the critical piece of protein. Finally, they learned how to enclose the mRNA inside microscopically small capsules to protect it from being destroyed by chemicals in our blood.

 

Along the way, they also learned that, compared to traditional vaccines, mRNA vaccines can actually generate a stronger type of immunity: they stimulate the immune system to make antibodies and immune system killer cells — a double strike at the virus."

 

Here is a diagram from Moderna showing how its mRNA vaccines work:

 

Here is a video from Moderna featuring the company's president Dr. Stephen Hoge and its Chief Scientific Officer Paolo Martini on how Moderna is delivering on its mRNA therapies:

 

Now, let's look at Moderna's current research on mRNA vaccines, most of which are still in Phase 1 or 2 clinical study with the notable exception of the COVID-19 mRNA-1273 vaccine:  

 

Who is backing this research?  Here's the answer:

 

 

Shocking, isn't it?   In "Gatesworld" there's nothing that can't be solved with a heavy dose of technology and a hefty influx of a seemingly endless bundle of cash.

 

Let's close with this information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on mRNA vaccines:

 

"There are currently no licensed mRNA vaccines in the United States. However, researchers have been studying them for decades.

 

Early stage clinical trials using mRNA vaccines have been carried out for influenza, Zika, rabies, and cytomegalovirus (CMV). Challenges encountered in these early trials included the instability of free RNA in the body, unintended inflammatory outcomes, and modest immune responses. Recent technological advancements in RNA biology and chemistry, as well as delivery systems, have mitigated these challenges and improved their stability, safety, and effectiveness.

 

Beyond vaccines, numerous preclinical and clinical studies have used mRNA to encode cancer antigens to stimulate immune responses targeted at clearing or reducing malignant tumors."

 

Given that mRNA vaccines are unprecedented and that Moderna's mRNA-1273 vaccine is not scheduled to complete its phase 3 clinical trial until October 27, 2022 as shown here:

 

...we are all unwitting animal test subjects in the very early days of a new unproven technology.