Vaccines have been reliably and affordably protecting people from diseases worldwide for centuries. Until the COVID-19 pandemic, however, vaccine development was still a long and idiosyncratic process. Traditionally, researchers had to tailor manufacturing processes and facilities for each vaccine candidate, and the scientific knowledge gained from one vaccine was often not directly transferable to another.
But the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines brought a new approach to vaccine development that has far-reaching implications for how researchers make drugs to treat many other diseases.
