Some scientists say it's just a matter of time: If the work done in making the drugs can be seen when this year's prize is announced on Monday, you will win this prize in the years to come.
More than 4.7 million people have died as a result of COVID-19 since the first novel coronavirus cases were registered in 2019, and many countries are living under stricter limits aimed at curbing its spread.
However, the COVID-19 vaccine has helped some rich provinces to return to normal while others will still receive mass vaccination volumes.
Among those considered by other scientists to be the winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine were Hungarian-born Catalin Kariko and American Drew Weissman for their work on Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA).
The mRNA vaccine developed by Moderna and Pfizer and its German counterpart BioNTech has revolutionized the fight against the virus. They are quick to produce and very effective.
"This approach will win prize sooner or later, so I'm sure," said Ali Mirazami, a professor in the Department of Clinical Technology at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. "The question is when."
Traditional vaccines, which introduce a weak or dead virus to boost the immune system, can take up to ten years or more to develop. Moderna MRNA vaccine ranges from gene sequence to initial human injection in 63 days.
New vaccines use laboratory mRNA to teach cells to make coronavirus ’spike proteins, which encourage the immune system to function without replicating like a real virus.
TWENTY YEARS OF WORK
Discovered in 1961 but decades to treat the mRNA process in problems such as instability and causing inflammatory conditions.
The Nobel Prize was founded by dynamite founder Alfred Nobel and is awarded the achievement of Medicine, Chemistry, Literature, Peace and Physics. This year's winners were announced between October 4 and 11, starting with Medicine.
