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Nobel In Medicine Goes To Two Scientists Whose Work Enabled Creation Of mRNA Vaccines Against COVID

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FILE - Japan Prize 2022 laureates Hungarian-American biochemist Katalin Kariko, left, and American physician-scientist Drew Weissman, right, pose with their trophies during the Japan Prize presentation ceremony Wednesday, April 13, 2022, in Tokyo. The Nobel Prize in medicine awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for enabling development of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, it was announced on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool, File)

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Two scientists have won the Nobel Prize in medicine for discoveries that enabled the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 and that could be used to develop other shots in the future.

Hungarian-American Katalin Karikd American Drew Weissman were cited for contributing vaccine development during what the panel that awarded the prize called “one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times.”

The panel said the pair changed “our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system.”

Simply injecting lab-grown mRNA into the body triggered an inflammatory reaction that usually destroyed it.

Karikd Weissman figured out a tiny modification to the building blocks of RNA that made it stealthy enough to slip past those immune defenses.

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