Science and Technology
In News: The country’s first homegrown mRNA Covid-19 vaccine developed at Pune’s Gennova Biopharmaceuticals has received emergency use for the age group 18 and above.
- The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) approved the two-dose mRNA vaccine.
- The vaccine is stable for storage at 2-8 degree C.
- Vaccines based on mRNA require ultra-low temperature conditions for storage and distribution.
What are mRNA vaccines?
- mRNA vaccines trick the body into producing some of the viral proteins itself.
- They work by using mRNA, or messenger RNA, which is the molecule that essentially puts DNA instructions into action.
- Inside a cell, mRNA is used as a template to build a protein
How it works?
- To produce an mRNA vaccine, scientists produce a synthetic version of the mRNA that a virus uses to build its infectious proteins.
- This mRNA is delivered into the human body, whose cells read it as instructions to build that viral protein, and therefore create some of the virus’s molecules themselves.
- These proteins are solitary, so they do not assemble to form a virus.
- The immune system then detects these viral proteins and starts to produce a defensive response to them.
Source: Indian Express
Previous Year Questions
Q.1) With reference to recent developments regarding ‘Recombinant Vector Vaccines’, consider the following statements: (2021)
- Genetic engineering is applied in the development of these vaccines.
- Bacteria and viruses are used as vectors.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- 1 only
- 2 only
- Both 1 and 2
- Neither 1 nor 2
