Covid vaccine researchers awarded 2023 Nobel Medicine Prize

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman, the Nobel Assembly at Sweden's Karolinska Institute announced on Monday.

The prize, arguably among the most prestigious in the scientific world, is awarded by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden's Karolinska Institute.

Hungaria-born Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman of the United States got the prize for research that led directly to the first mRNA vaccines to fight Covid-19, made by Pfizer and Moderna.

About the researchers, the assembly's website reads, "The discoveries by the two Nobel Prize laureates were critical for developing effective mRNA vaccines against Covid-19 during the pandemic that began in early 2020.

"Through their groundbreaking findings, which have fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system, the laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times."

The Medicine Prize has over the years crowned groundbreaking discoveries like the X-ray, penicillin, insulin and DNA – as well as now-disgraced awards for the lobotomy and the insecticide DDT.

Since 1901, Nobel prizes have been awarded to men, women and organisations for work that has led to great advances for mankind, in line with the wishes of inventor Alfred Nobel.

The winners of this year's prizes will be announced daily from Monday, October 2 through October 9.

/KN/