mRNA Vaccine

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)

1. Genetic engineering is applied in the development of these vaccines.
2. Bacteria and viruses are used as vectors.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2