原文

As I sat there waiting to get my COVID vaccine last December,/ I remember thinking/ just how ordinary and extraordinary this moment was at the same time.// It wasn’t just that the vaccine had the potential to protect you and me and end this pandemic,/ but also the possibility that this vaccine’s technology could fundamentally change medicine.//

原文

It all starts with this tiny strand of genetic material/ known as messenger RNA—mRNA.// It’s made in our bodies all the time,/ directing our cells to make different proteins.// And it’s also the backbone of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines,/ in this case instructing our own bodies to, first, make the coronavirus’s signature spike protein,/ which then, in turn, prompts our immune system to create antibodies to that spike protein.// It’s essentially turning our bodies into our very own vaccine-making machines.//

Moderna is now testing that technology for cytomegalovirus.// That’s the leading infectious cause of birth defects in the United States.// Another company, CureVac, is utilizing the technology for a potential rabies vaccine.//