The development of a coronavirus vaccine within a year isn't so much a scientific achievement as an impressive technological breakthrough; one of the pandemic's main blessings in disguise has been dramatic progress in the field of medical technology.
In terms of the vaccine itself, the science "was already there" as the pharmaceutical companies quickly pinpointed the virus and its ribonucleic acid. Essentially, all these companies were guided by the same rationale. The moment they identified the virus, they said, "Let's study the human immune system and zero in on an enemy virus and use it to attack the coronavirus." This rationale is the norm and is already employed, for example, to combat the seasonal flu.
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They chose to inject the coronavirus' "spikes" (due to their shape) into the human body, allowing the immune system to understand it was in distress and then produce a natural counterattack. Where then is the breakthrough? Indeed, the human body will create these spikes by itself. How? Every cell in the body has "factories" for proteins (ribosomes), and the "spikes" are essentially proteins. To this end, the companies manipulated the coronavirus' RNA Messenger that entered the ribosome and told it what to create – giving birth to the vaccine.
Incidentally, Nobel prizes had already been given for the discoveries leading to the vaccine's development. On the other hand, it's certainly possible that due to their immense contribution to mankind, the vaccine's developers will receive a Nobel prize, although in my opinion, this will be under a different category.
The use of technology in the development of the vaccine crystallizes not only the (familiar) schematic distribution between East and West, but also the might of the developed nations, including from the East – such as China, South Korea and Japan – which are more advanced than the West in certain technological fields.
Israel is in the club of advanced Western countries and the Israel Institute for Biological Research in Nes Ziona is doing impressive work. However, despite the brilliant and experienced people working there, the lack of funding compared to other countries slowed down their own development of a vaccine. In this context, it's vital that the education system cultivate the young, bright minds who will become the country's future scientists and technological innovators.
As we know, the political systems across the globe are doing their best to suppress the pandemic or at least reduce the rate of infection until a vaccine can be administered, and medical teams are doing incredible work treating and healing patients in serious condition. It's important to understand, though, that political systems aren't solving the problem; it is the scientists – in the labs, quietly and diligently, away from the headlines – doing the work that will save the world with sophisticated technology predicated, as stated, on breakthroughs of the past.
One of the sole blessings of the coronavirus has been the dramatic leap in medical technology over the past year. If we can teach the human body not to misidentify various cancerous cells – we will also advance toward a solution to cancer. The same technologies used to develop the coronavirus vaccine can also be used to improve our understanding of the human immune system and treat other diseases, too.
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