Two scientists who created COVID vaccine, Katalin Kariko from Hungary and Drew Weissman from the United States, have won the Nobel Prize in medicine. They received this prestigious award for their research that helped create effective COVID-19 vaccines using something called messenger RNA (mRNA).

The mRNA vaccines, like Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, work by teaching our body’s cells to recognize and fight a specific part of the coronavirus, known as the spike protein. This helps our immune system learn to battle the virus without ever encountering it directly.

Ms. Kariko is a professor at Sagan’s University in Hungary and the University of Pennsylvania. She used to work as the senior vice president and head of RNA protein replacement at BioNTech and continues to advise the company.

COVID Vaccine Creators

Mr. Weissman conducted his award-winning research on COVID Vaccine alongside Ms. Kariko at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Nobel Prize committee praised their groundbreaking work for its crucial role in quickly developing COVID vaccines during the pandemic, one of the biggest health threats in recent times in the form of COVID-19. Thomas Perlmann, the secretary of the Nobel Assembly, revealed the news to both scientists, who were reportedly very excited by the honor.

“This year’s Nobel Prize recognizes the scientists’ important discovery that changed how we understand mRNA and its interaction with our immune system. This discovery played a big role in dealing with the recent pandemic,” explained Rickard Sandberg, a member of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute.

He also said that the work of these scientists of creation of COVID vaccine saved many lives, lessened the impact of severe COVID-19, and allowed societies to reopen.

Dr. Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, called mRNA vaccines a “game changer.” He credited these vaccines with saving millions of lives and stated that without them, the COVID-19 situation would have been much worse.

The announcement in Stockholm, Sweden, started this year’s Nobel Prize awards. There will be more announcements in the coming days. The Nobel Prizes, established in 1901 by Alfred Nobel, recognize achievements in physics, chemistry, literature, peace, and economics. The winners receive a cash prize of 11 million Swedish kronor (£820,000), funded by Nobel’s bequest.

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