Health & biology · 2020

mRNA vaccines

COVID-19 vaccines were designed within days of the virus genome being published.

Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine received emergency authorisation in December 2020, eleven months after the SARS-CoV-2 sequence appeared. Billions of doses followed, and mRNA is now being developed for cancer and other infections.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 2

Modified mRNA 2005
Next-generation sequencing 2005

What it led to 3

One-shot CRISPR lowers cholesterol 2025
Personalised cancer vaccines ~2029
Routine in-body gene editing ~2032

Watch

mRNA vaccines, explainedVox · YouTube

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Childhood vaccine coverage Latest: DTP3: 85 % of one-year-olds (2025) Source: Our World in Data

Life expectancy at birth Latest: 73.2 years (2023) Source: Our World in Data