Breakthrough: Katalin Karikó and the mRNA Vaccine

Contents

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Introduction

Chapter 1

Ambitious Young Girl

Chapter 2

One-Way Ticket

Chapter 3

Thrown into the Deep Water

Chapter 4

Breakthrough

Chapter 5

What’s It Good For?

Chapter 6

A Turning Point in Vaccine Science

Chapter 7

Pandemic

Chapter 8

A Future Wide Open

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Katalin Karikó Timeline

Coronavirus and Pandemic Timeline

Glossary

Source Notes

Selected Bibliography

Further Information

Index

Introduction

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Masked and wearing a sleeveless orange blouse, sixty-five-year-old Katalin (Kati) Karikó calmly watched the needle prick her arm. Her colleague Dr. Drew Weissman, seated beside her, rolled up his sleeve for a shot too. It was December 18, 2020, and they were among the first Americans to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. As biotechnology researchers whose work helped pave the way for this vaccine, they hoped everyone would follow their example. There was no time to lose.

For most of the year, the coronavirus disease COVID-19 had been raging across the globe. It originated in China in December 2019, but by March 26, 2020, the United States was rapidly becoming its epicenter, with more than 82,000 confirmed cases and over 1,000 deaths. On November 4 the US hit a terrible milestone when, for the first time, 100,000 new cases were reported in one day. December proved even worse, with 65,000 deaths and 118,720 patients hospitalized in that month.

Among the first people to receive the newly approved mRNA vaccine for COVID-19, so-called frontline workers included doctors, nurses, and other health-care professionals. They worked harder than many of us can imagine to save lives and prevent the spread of the disease.

The emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine, soon followed by an EUA for the Moderna vaccine, was the first hopeful news in a year of devastating loss and hardship. Although people around the world welcomed the lifesaving vaccinations, many were concerned about how quickly they had been developed. Normally, it takes scientists years, even decades, to produce a vaccine. The COVID vaccines had been formulated in less than a year. Some people wondered if the vaccines had been developed too quickly. Were they really safe?

The answer, Karikó knew, was a resounding yes. Perhaps more than anyone else, she realized that years of experimentation underlay the seemingly rapid success of the vaccines. Long before anyone heard of COVID, Karikó had been researching messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), a molecule found in all living cells. She believed the remarkable substance could be used to cure many illnesses and create more effective vaccines. For years, other scientists took little interest in what seemed to them a far-fetched prospect. But despite discouragement and lack of funding, Karikó and Weissman persisted. The biotechnology they developed based on mRNA made the rapid development of the COVID vaccines possible. Karikó and Weissman hoped that receiving their shots publicly at the University of Pennsylvania, home to their collaboration and groundbreaking work, would help allay concerns some people had about the vaccines.

When they had walked down the hallway toward the vaccination site, the chair of neurosurgery had publicly acknowledged their indispensable contribution to the vaccine. Health-care workers waiting to get their shots burst into spontaneous applause.

Karikó’s eyes filled with tears. I feel humbled and happy, she said afterward. I am more a basic scientist, but I always wanted to do something to help patients.

Despite becoming a sudden celebrity, Karikó remains down-to-earth and focused on her work. She expects her pioneering mRNA research to be used in treatments for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and many other ailments. As far as she, Weissman, and many other scientists are concerned, the COVID vaccine is only the beginning.

Karikó (middle) receives the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine with colleague Drew Weissman (left).

Chapter

1

Ambitious Young Girl

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Young Kati Karikó had never met a scientist, but she always wanted to be one. Nothing excited her more than learning new things and investigating the world around her, especially plants and animals. What made flowers grow? Why did animals act the way they did? She never tired of asking such questions.

Born on January 17, 1955, Kati grew up in the town of Kisújszállás on the Great Hungarian Plain, a large natural grassland in Europe. Surrounded by abundant vegetation and wildlife as well as vast herds of cattle, it was a wonderful place for a girl with her interests to live.

Hungary, Pre- and Post-1920 Borders

In 1920 World War I officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Trianon. This treaty redistributed around two-thirds of Hungarian land to surrounding countries. Hungary had been part of Austria-Hungary, one of the Central or Axis powers, until Austria-Hungary’s collapse during the war in 1918.

But the town had yet to catch up with the rest of the world in modern technology. Kati lived with her parents, Janos and Zsuzsanna Karikó, and older sister, also Zsuzsanna, in a small adobe house with a thatched reed roof. The family had no running water, refrigerator, or television. Kati didn’t miss these conveniences because none of her friends had them either. The only heat in the long, cold winters came from a sawdust stove. Her family kept chickens and pigs for eggs and meat. When they needed milk, they went to their next-door neighbors, who had a cow.

Two-year-old Kati Karikó (second from left) is pictured here with her parents and older sister in 1957.

Kati’s father was a butcher, and her mother was a bookkeeper. Although they lacked much formal education, they had sharp, quick minds and stood up for their beliefs. Because Hungary was controlled by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), a former country in eastern Europe and Asia that existed from 1922 to 1991, this could be a dangerous thing to do. Freedom of speech and political opposition were not tolerated by the Soviet regime and could lead to serious repercussions. As a one-year-old, Kati was too young to understand the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, but she almost certainly grew up hearing stories of the angry protests calling for Hungary’s political freedom and an end to Soviet rule. Fierce fighting broke out in the streets of Budapest as Soviet tanks arrived to quell the rebellion, which persisted for days. Twenty-five hundred people died, and over the next several months more than two hundred thousand people left the country as refugees. Kati’s father was arrested, along with many others, for supporting the rebellion and condemning the occupying government’s oppressive policies. He was found guilty and given a suspended sentence, so he didn’t serve time in prison, but he was fired from his job.

While the Hungarian Revolution lasted only several weeks, it expressed the Hungarians’ desire for national independence from the Soviet regime. Similar uprisings occurred in other USSR states, including Georgia, Moldova, Lithuania, and more.

When You Have Nothing

Unable to obtain a full-time job, Janos was forced to take odd jobs. In the spring he sheared sheep, and in the summer he did construction or temporary farmwork. Sometimes Kati and her sister joined him in the fields, doing simple tasks such as turning over cantaloupes so that each side got the benefit of the sun and the fruit grew evenly. In the winter he privately butchered pigs for families. You learn so much from hardship, Kati recalls these difficult times. You gain strength, stamina, and strong will. When you have nothing you are brave and honest as you have nothing to lose.

Thanks to her father’s resolve to continue working as a butcher, Kati was exposed from an early age to animal anatomy. When she was about five, she watched her father cut up the carcass of a pig he had slaughtered for the market. The way the pig’s bones and muscles fit together fascinated her. Witnessing the birth of a calf proved to be another memorable experience. Young as she was, Kati wanted to know more.

Despite living under Soviet rule, Kati’s family was happy. Their modest home was filled with music, laughter, and love. They had everything they needed, plus a few extra luxuries, such as the violin her father loved to play and the girls’ bicycle. Since bicycles weren’t common in the neighborhood, Kati and Zsuzsanna shared theirs so that all their friends could learn to ride. When she wasn’t pedaling down the roads, Kati enjoyed running, sports, and taking care of plants. Watching plants change