A revolution in vaccine development—but will we all benefit?

By manipulating the “instruction manuals” that control cell function in our bodies, we will soon be able to combat many diseases, including the new coronavirus outbreak. However, in the worst scenario, such innovations will only benefit the rich. Recently, it was reported that a vaccine against the new coronavirus could be ready for testing on animals within one month, and on humans within three months. This process normally takes several years, but innovative vaccine technology can do the job at record speeds. The new technology makes use of mRNA (short for messenger RNA), which carries nucleic acids—the chemical “building blocks” of life. Messenger RNA acts as a “working copy” of the genes (made of DNA) that our bodies have to read in order to make the proteins that control the life processes taking place in our cells. RNA represents a family of molecules that is structurally similar to DNA. Research into mRNA is...