
Covid-19 Infographics: How mRNA Vaccines Work


From a sore arm to anaphylaxis, a wide range of adverse events have been reported after people have received a COVID-19 vaccine. And yet it is unclear how many of these events are actually caused by the vaccine. In the vast majority of cases, reactions are mild and can be explained by the body’s own immune response.
But monitoring systems designed to track adverse events are catching much rarer but more serious events. Now scientists need to work out if they are causally liked to the vaccine, or are just statistical anomalies – and that is not an easy task.News: Why is it so hard to investigate the rare side effects of COVID vaccines?Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.
A large portion of the U.S. population still doesn’t want to get the new Covid vaccine, but they might not have a choice. Powers at the federal and state level, not to mention the legal rights granted to employers under U.S. labor law, may make it impossible for Americans to escape inoculation against the coronavirus.

The dream of mRNA persevered in part because its core principle was tantalizingly simple, even beautiful: The world’s most powerful drug factory might be inside all of us.

Like so many breakthroughs, this apparent overnight success was many decades in the making. More than 40 years had passed between the 1970s, when a Hungarian scientist pioneered early mRNA research, and the day the first authorized mRNA vaccine was administered in the United States, on December 14, 2020. In the interim, the idea’s long road to viability nearly destroyed several careers and almost bankrupted several companies.
New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week in politics, including Republican reluctance to get the COVID-19 vaccine, the response to violence against Asian Americans and the Atlanta attacks, and the Biden administration’s immigration policy.
Israel is allowing vaccinated citizens to access gyms, restaurants and live concerts. As the country races to immunize all adults against Covid-19 and reopen fully, it is even offering free drinks and pizza to entice those who are hesitant to get the shot. Photo: Tamir Elterman
A.M. Edition for March 12. President Biden presses states to widen Covid-19 vaccine eligibility to all American adults by May 1. OPEC expresses optimism in its forecast.
Health passports were something we had barely heard of a year ago, but now, everyone is talking about them. Some form of passport or proof of health status is likely to be a lasting legacy of Covid-19. But what are they, how do they work, and how will they affect the way we travel?
As highly transmissible coronavirus variants sweep across the world, scientists are racing to understand why these new versions of the virus are spreading faster, and what this could mean for vaccine efforts. New research says the key may be the spike protein, which gives the coronavirus its unmistakable shape. Illustration: Nick Collingwood/WSJ