mRNA COVID Vaccine Authorized
The FDA granted emergency authorization to the first mRNA vaccine for COVID-19
December 11, 2020
A New Kind of Vaccine
On December 11, 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine — the first mRNA vaccine ever authorized for human use. The vaccine was developed in under a year, a record that shattered the previous benchmark of four years. It worked not by injecting a weakened virus, but by delivering genetic instructions telling the body's own cells to produce a piece of the coronavirus spike protein, triggering an immune response.
Decades in the Making
mRNA vaccine technology had been researched for over 30 years, largely funded by NIH grants and driven by scientists like Katalin Karikó who spent years being ignored and defunded. The key breakthrough came when Karikó and Drew Weissman discovered how to modify mRNA to prevent the immune system from destroying it before it could work. Without that discovery, COVID mRNA vaccines would not have been possible. Karikó won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2023.
What Comes Next
The success of COVID mRNA vaccines demonstrated the platform's potential. Researchers are now developing mRNA vaccines for influenza, HIV, cancer, and other diseases that have resisted conventional vaccines. Clinical trials are underway for personalised mRNA cancer vaccines that would be tailored to the specific mutations in an individual patient's tumor. The authorization on December 11, 2020 may prove to be one of the most consequential dates in medical history. Use the date calculator to see how recently this happened.