As the race to find a vaccine gathers pace, this report from "Children's Health Defence" highlights some of the challenges involved. Summary:
A key technical challenge is to get the vaccines’ bulky RNA “payload” into the cells intact—without it breaking down prior to arriving at its destination. In other words, mRNA vaccines will not work without an in-built delivery mechanism that enables the mRNA to shove its way into a cell’s cytoplasm. The chosen solution is to use trendy biotech “carrier systems” involving lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). LNPs “encapsulate the mRNA constructs to protect them from degradation and promote cellular uptake” and, additionally, rev up the immune system (a property that vaccine scientists tamely describe as LNPs’ “inherent adjuvant properties”). The LNP formulations in the three Covid-19 vaccines are also “PEGylated,” meaning that the vaccine nanoparticles are coated with a synthetic, nondegradable and increasingly controversial polymer called polyethylene glycol (PEG). Read more here . . .
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