The coronavirus vaccines made by Moderna, Pfizer–BioNTech, and Johnson & Johnson each deliver genetic information that codes for a stabilized form of the spike protein, the protrusions on the virus through which SARS-CoV-2 infects human cells. Depending on the vaccine, the messenger RNA (mRNA) or DNA instructs cells to produce copies of slightly altered versions of the spike, which stimulates the immune system to develop the antibodies to deactivate the viral spike, preventing infection. A vaccine by CureVac, now in clinical trials, includes the same mRNA coding, whereas the Novavax vaccine, which could be authorized in May, contains recombinant versions of the stabilized spike itself.
The research that led to those vaccines dates to 2013, when scientists at NIH’s Vaccine Research Center were hunting for a vaccine to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which can cause serious disease in infants and older adults. Jason McLellan, now associate professor of molecular...
