Quote Originally Posted by R2Dawg View Post
They have worked on SARS vaccines for 6+ decades and never figured it out. They don't know long term effects because it hasn't been long term yet.

Did you know MERS had a 35% fatality rate? Big difference in that and Covid but we didn't act that way with MERS.
I think you have SARS confused with something else, SARS wasn't discovered until 2002 and MERS until 2012. I think you mean the mRNA vaccines. In 2018, the issue was lack of funding to get a reliable delivery method. They knew mRNA vaccines were safe, effective, and rapidly deployed since the early 1990's, but not stable (which is why they have to be stored at such low temperatures). That the mRNA degrades so fast is a feature, not a bug.

See below: although some of this is over my head

The use of mRNA has several beneficial features over subunit, killed and live attenuated virus, as well as DNA-based vaccines.
First, safety: as mRNA is a non-infectious, non-integrating platform, there is no potential risk of infection or insertional mutagenesis. Additionally, mRNA is degraded by normal cellular processes, and its in vivo half-life can be regulated through the use of various modifications and delivery methods9,10,11,12. The inherent immunogenicity of the mRNA can be down-modulated to further increase the safety profile9,12,13.
Second, efficacy: various modifications make mRNA more stable and highly translatable9,12,13. Efficient in vivo delivery can be achieved by formulating mRNA into carrier molecules, allowing rapid uptake and expression in the cytoplasm (reviewed in Refs 10,11). mRNA is the minimal genetic vector; therefore, anti-vector immunity is avoided, and mRNA vaccines can be administered repeatedly.
Third, production: mRNA vaccines have the potential for rapid, inexpensive and scalable manufacturing, mainly owing to the high yields of in vitro transcription reactions.
And thankfully MERS onset of symptoms was fast. So isolating those that were symptomatic until they got better or died contained it. That's why the first reactions to COVID was a 2 week lockdown. If MERS had the 3-5 day asymptomatic infectious period, it would be the new Black Death or The Stand.

I read books in college about airborne Marburg or Ebola, that will give you nightmares.