genetic vaccine

The most exciting development in the area of vaccines in the last ten years has been the genetic vaccine, that is, a vaccine that relies on introducing part of the DNA or RNA of a virus into a human cell which then replicates part of the virus protein from the DNA or RNA code, producing an immune response.  This is safer than the other two types of vaccine which introduce either the whole virus (neutralised) into the body or part of the virus to get the immune response.  It is also cheaper because you don’t have to grow the vaccine outside the body in yeast, rats, mice, monkeys, etc. The downside is that the RNA of the virus is fragile and therefore difficult to get across into the cell, and the DNA, which is more robust, produces less of a response. So the efficacy of these vaccines is still not quite there. But if the problems with using them can be solved, they will be a cheap, quickly produced vaccine not just for COVID-19 but for a whole range of diseases.

Among the most successful of the new vaccines for COVID-19 are genetic or gene vaccines based on mRNA (messenger RNA) material of the coronavirus. These mRNA vaccines appear to be extremely effective and safe.