Category Archives: Progress

In the run-up to Cop26, the UK government used the mantra Cash, coal, cars and trees to keep the world to 1.5C to highlight four key areas on which the conference would focus.

At Cop26, rich countries were supposed to fulfil a longstanding promise, made in 2009, to provide $100bn a year in climate finance to the developing world from 2020.

The actual amounts provided are still falling short, but developed countries did produce evidence that they would meet the promise this year or next, with the five-year average from 2020 to 2025 at around $100bn. Developing countries have also been promised a new financial settlement that would see greater flows from 2025, with details yet to be decided.

In the months since, however, there has been little advance on the Cop26 promises of cash. Rachel Kyte and Lord Stern, both former top World Bank officials, told the Guardian of several concerns over the World Banks programmes on climate. Stern said the banks resources would be stretched by the additional strains of high energy and food prices around the world, and the effects of the war in Ukraine.

Kyte cast doubt on whether the World Bank was truly committed to the climate fight: [The World Banks] weak showing at Glasgow and continued questions about their appetite for urgent action has meant that coalitions form without them at the helm. Broader questions of whether the Bretton Woods institutions are fit for purpose for the climate crisis grow.

The private sector has also come under closer scrutiny. The GFANZ network the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero was announced with fanfare by Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of England and UN climate envoy. It is unclear, however, how much of that is flowing to the poorest countries that need it most.

There are also questions, raised by the Guardians carbon bubble investigation, over whether investors are pouring more money into fossil fuels, now enjoying a bonanza, rather than clean tech. There is little in the GFANZ rules to stop them. Carney said it was the job of governments to regulate and provide incentives that would encourage capital into the right directions: Finance will not drive the net-zero transition on its own. Finance is an enabler, a catalyst that will speed what governments and companies initiate. If there is commitment to move to a sustainable, resilient and fair energy system, and the right policies are made, finance will be there.

Coal was a clear focus of Cop26, though some of the successes the UK initially trumpeted for commitments to phase out coal turned out to be less solid than claimed. In the closing moments of the talks, coal also became a flashpoint as China and India refused to sign up to a phase-out of coal, and insisted on changing the term to phase-down.

Since then, new evidence has emerged of coal expansion as recovery from Covid has quickened, and the war in Ukraine has spurred some countries to consider a return to coal, or a delay to its phasing out.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said coal must be at the forefront of Cop27: The biggest risk is the growing appetite for infrastructure investments in coal. If we are not able to slow that down or stop it, we may lock in our future If I had to pick one issue [for Cop27], that would be the one.

Electric vehicle sales doubled in key markets last year, as manufacturers ramped up production and consumers embraced new models. But the future of the market this year is looking more uncertain; the war in Ukraine has disrupted key supply chains, and Volkswagen in Germany said earlier this month that it had sold out of electric vehicles for this year for its EU and US markets. Other manufacturers are also struggling with rising costs and looking for alternative sources for components.

Many green campaigners are also concerned that talking about cars is the wrong focus they say we should be talking about transport. Investment in public transport, making it cheaper or even free, is one of the quickest ways to bring down demand for oil, according to the IEA.

The UK made action on forests a key focus at Cop26, with a gathering of world leaders to discuss forests and land use and a separate two-day programme of events. A deal to halt global deforestation, signed by China, the US and Brazil among other nations, was the first big win of the Glasgow fortnight.

But in the past months, Brazils deforestation rate in the Amazon has soared to devastating record levels, and a report on the Congo one of the worlds most important remaining rainforests has cast doubt on the governments willingness to take the action needed to halt logging and destruction.

Meanwhile, another key forestry meeting this year the Convention on Biological Diversity (meant to be held in Kunming, China, in 2020, but delayed) is now in limbo due to the Chinese governments response to the resurgence of Covid-19. Whether or when the conference will take place at all is now unknown.

Lord Goldsmith, the UK minister in charge of the Cop26 forestry efforts, has been on a frantic round of diplomacy this year to shore up the forest deal. He said the UK wanted world leaders to meet every year to discuss progress. The contribution of forestry to the overall global emissions reductions needed is potentially huge. It could contribute about 10%-15% to the global emissions target.

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Cash, coal, cars and trees: what progress has been made since Cop26? - The Guardian

BURLINGTON, Mass., May 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Progress (Nasdaq: PRGS), the trusted provider ofinfrastructure software, today announced that Anthony Folger, Chief Financial Officer, and Michael Micciche, Vice President of Investor Relations, will participate in the 17th Annual Needham Technology & Media Conference. This years event will be held both in-person and virtually, and Progress will be available for virtual one-on-one meetings with qualified investors on Wednesday, May 18.

For more information about the conference or to schedule a meeting, please contact a Needham Representative or the conference coordinator at conferences@needhamco.com.

About ProgressDedicated to propelling business forward in a technology-driven world, Progress (Nasdaq: PRGS) helps businesses drive faster cycles of innovation, fuel momentum and accelerate their path to success. As the trusted provider of the best products to develop, deploy and manage high-impact applications, Progress enables customers to develop the applications and experiences they need, deploy where and how they want and manage it all safely and securely. Hundreds of thousands of enterprises, including 1,700 software companies and 3.5 million developers, depend on Progress to achieve their goalswith confidence. Learn more at http://www.progress.com, and follow us on LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Progress is a trademark or registered trademark of Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Any other names contained herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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Progress to Participate in the 17th Annual Needham Technology & Media Conference - GlobeNewswire

A new edition of WHOs NCD Progress Monitor, documenting the actions that WHO Member States are taking to set targets and develop policies and plans to prevent and control major noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and their risk factors, finds that simple and effective interventions are not being adopted widely enough around the world.

Of 194 countries, the 2022 NCD Progress Monitor indicates that 126 countries have set time-bound national targets for NCDs based on WHO guidance. Encouragingly, 77 countries have fully achieved more indicators in 2022, compared to the previous NCD Progress Monitor published in 2020.

An area of progress was in efforts to reduce tobacco use, with more than half of all countries now fully achieving the implementation of plain/standardized packaging and/or large graphic health warnings on tobacco packaging, one of the best-buy interventions (to effectively reduce tobacco use under the NCD Global Action Plan).

There was also improvement in the development of clinical guidelines for NCD management, with the majority of countries fully achieving this indicator for the first time. Progress is also made in efforts to improve nutrition and food environments.

Well over half of countries 120 in total currently have an operational multisectoral national strategy or action plan for NCDs that integrates the major diseases and their shared risk factors. While this is slightly lower than the same figure from the 2020 NCD Progress Monitor (n=129), due to national strategies and action plans expiring during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is still considerably higher than the 87 countries who had an operational, multisectoral integrated NCD strategy or action plan in 2015, when this indicator was first reported in the first NCD Progress Monitor.

In total, fifty-four countries have lost ground, achieving fewer indicators than in 2020. There have also been major declines in physical activity awareness campaigns, and NCD surveillance. This is against a backdrop of premature NCD mortality increasing in more than 20 countries, mostly low- and middle-income countries. Globally, rates of diabetes and obesity are on the rise.

Similarly, variations by geography and income status persist. As two examples, no Member State in the WHO African Region has fully achieved the NCD surveillance indicator to deliver a STEPS survey or a comprehensive health examination survey every five years, while only one no low-income countries (of 27) has achieved a functioning system for generating reliable cause-specific NCD mortality data on a routine basis.

Effectively tackling NCDs and their key risk factors requires a detailed understanding of what progress is being made at the country level. By tracking the implementation of a key set of NCD actions at national level, the NCD Progress Monitor can measure progress over time, provide an indication of how widely several best buy NCD policies are being adopted globally.

As well as tracking key actions taken by each WHO Member States, the NCD Progress Monitor 2022 also includes the latest data on a countrys population, the percentage and number of deaths from NCDs, and the risk of premature death from the four main NCDs (cardiovascular diseases, cancer,diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases) the indicator used to monitor the SustainableDevelopment Goal target 3.4 on NCDs.

In his foreword to the Monitor, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, highlighted why uncertainties from COVID-19 tell us that action on NCDs is critical for strong health systems:

In a world filled with uncertainty, a silver lining for NCDs is that we know both how to prevent them and how to manage them. This report presents evidence-based policies that represent the most effective and cost-effective actions for countries to protect their citizens from the death and disability wrought by NCDs.

Dr Bente Mikkelsen, Director for Noncommunicable Diseases at WHO, described the findings as a startling reminder of the need for accelerated action on NCDs.

WHOs work is made more effective when responses to NCDs are contextualized to a countrys population, health system and policy response. By shining a light on what steps Member States are taking to prevent and control NCDs, the NCD Progress Monitor is critical to informing data-driven actions that accelerate new pathways and solutions.

NCDs are the worlds biggest killers, and these findings reaffirm the urgent need for countries to adopt our simple, effective and cost-effective, best-buy interventions.

Editor's note:

In May 2015 WHO published a Technical Note on how WHO would report in 2017 to the UnitedNations General Assembly on the progress achieved in the implementation of national commitmentsincluded in the 2011 UN Political Declaration and the 2014 UN Outcome Document on NCDs.

The Technical Note was updated in September 2017 to ensure consistency with the revised set ofWHO best-buys and other recommended interventions for the prevention and control ofnoncommunicable diseases which were endorsed by the World Health Assembly in May 2017. TheTechnical Note outlines a set of ten progress monitoring indicators intended to show the progressachieved in countries in the implementation of selected national commitments included in the 2014Outcome Document.

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New report shows progress and missed opportunities in the control of NCDs at the national level - World Health Organization

President Biden on Friday said he expects the administration will make progress on increasing the supply of baby formula soon, amid the ongoing national shortage.

This is a process. Were working on it very, very hard. Theres nothing more urgent were working on than that right now and I think were going to be making some significant progress very shortly, he said at the White House.

When asked if the administration should have taken steps sooner, the president responded, If weve been better mind readers, I guess we could have.

But, we moved as quickly as the problem became apparent to us. And, we have to move with caution as well as speed because we gotta make sure what were getting is in fact first-rate product. Thats why the FDA has to go through the process, he said.

Earlier on Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki would not offer a ballpark window for how many weeks or months the White House expects until baby formula is well-stocked at big box retail stores.

The president pointed to steps his administration is taking to address the shortage, including expanded flexibility in a key program for the poor the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). He also mentioned that the U.S. is increasing imports of formula from abroad, and he pointed to the newly launched website for resources about the shortage.

Biden had remarked about the baby formula shortage: All of a sudden its on the front page of every newspaper.

The White House hasbeen on the defenseover its reaction to the shortage of baby formula, emphasizing that it quickly took action on the issue. Psaki said on Friday the administration has not waited to take action.

When asked if there was more they could have done sooner, Psaki said, Well look, hindsight is always 20-20.

Abbott Nutrition recalled products in February, but the baby formula shortage has been ongoing and formula supply has been spotty for months because of supply chain pressures and labor shortages.

Biden penned a letter to Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan on Thursday, asking the independent agency to consider using all of its available tools and authorities to actively monitor the infant formula market and address any illegal conduct that may be contributing to scarcity and hoarding as well as study whether rural or smaller retailers are being put at a disadvantage.

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Biden: Progress on baby formula supply coming very shortly - The Hill

"The homeowner was approached by a masked individual with a firearm who forced the homeowner to the ground," Cochrane RCMP stated.

A homeowner interrupted a break-and-enter at their Springbank residence on May 9 and was then threatened with a firearm, according to a press release from Cochrane RCMP.

The detachment statedthe call came in during the early hours of May 9 from a residence in Upland Ridge,and the officers' investigation revealed the homeowner came home to find their household being burgled.

"The homeowner was approached by a masked individual with a firearm who forced the homeowner to the ground," Cochrane RCMP stated. "The suspect left the residence in what is described as an older model grey blue SUV or van, possibly a Honda Odyssey."

The suspect has been described as Caucasian, standing 5'9" weighing 160 pounds. He had a raspy voice and was wearing large work boots, a dark hoodie and jack, black pants with cargo pockets, gloves, and a balaclava.

If you have information on this crime, please contact the Cochrane RCMP at 403-932-2211. If you want to remain anonymous, you can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), online atwww.P3Tips.comor by using the P3 Tips app available through the Apple App or Google Play Store.

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Springbank homeowner comes across break-and-enter in progress: RCMP - Airdrie Today

Greenville Public Works Director Press Tompkins told the city council Tuesday that hes confident the $50 million improvement program for city streets will be accomplished in two years.

We are on target, were right around $24 million in the first year. Our goal is to spend the $50 million in two years. I feel very good, very comfortable with where were at and the progress were making on it, said Tompkins.

In May 2021, voters in Greenville overwhelmingly supported a $50 million bond proposal to improve the citys streets. With the low interest rates at the time, voters were told the bond could be repaid without an increase to the tax rate.

It was the second road improvement bond to be approved by voters in seven months.

Some of the road projects the city has completed include a mill and overlay of Gabe Estates; a resurfacing of the Cedars Addition, a complete rebuild of Carol Drive, including sewer, water and drainage; a four-lane, concrete total rebuild of Roy Warren Parkway from Jacksons Run to Traders Road; curb and gutter replacement along LaFontaine Lane; and rebuilds of 16 Wesley Street intersections. The city also has numerous other streets under construction.

Tompkins urged the city to have a regular road maintenance program in which roads are rehabilitated before the fall into complete disrepair. Rehabbing surfaces can be done at less expense than completely rebuilding a road, he said. A maintenance program can extend the life of roads by 15 to 20 years or longer, he said.

In other news about streets, City Manager Summer Spurlock reported that city crews have roughly $258,000 remaining from a $500,000 budget for the repair of potholes.

Spurlock also provided an update on a $10.19 million rebuild of Sayle Street, which, she said, is roughly 85% completed.

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

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Tompkins confident in progress of $50 million street program - Herald-Banner

The second cohort of Projects for Progress has been awarded, continuing the mission of faculty, staff, and students coming together around outreach projects directly in the neighborhood and larger Philadelphia community. Established by former Penn presidentAmy Gutmannin 2020, Projects for Progress are overseen by Penns Office of Social Equity & Community. Penn students, faculty, and staff are already coming together, bringing their valuable perspectives and ideas to the table, to build real world initiatives that address major societal issues. This award is one way to honor efforts that focus specifically on Philadelphia, says Nicole Maloy, director of the Office of Social Equity & Community.

The teams proposed initiatives that would make an impact in Philadelphia, focusing on one of three goals: eradicating or reducing systemic racism; achieving educational equity; and reducing health disparities based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and/or social determinants of health. The winning teams receive up to $100,000 to implement their initiatives over the coming year.

A total of nine teams applied this year, including 16 students, 10 faculty, and nine staff. Overseen by the Office of Social Equity & Community,a Selection Committee representing Civic House, Graduate School of Education, Netter Center for Community Partnerships, Penn Medicine, Penn Nursing, School of Social Policy & Practice, and University Life appointed the award recipients, and were approved by Interim President Wendell Pritchett.

Penns second cohort of Projects for Progress recipients are truly magnificent, says Pritchett. They are undergraduate and graduate students, and professors and administrators, all working together to boostalongside the Philadelphia communitysocial justice, educational equity, and health care reform. I have no doubt each team will use this award creatively as a launchpad for many years of success.

The Economic Justice Partnership is an effort launched at Penn to train marginalized young people (first generation college students, students of color, high school students) to be paid racially-conscious economic justice coaches for other young people and community members.

The initiative will partner with community organizations to reduce racial disparities in colorectal cancer in West Philadelphia by disseminating and implementing a novel initiativeDrive-through Fecal Immunochemical Test (FIT)which decentralizes screening from the clinic to the community. The initiative will also design and evaluate a Drive-through FIT implementation toolbox to help further disseminate this program throughout West Philadelphia.

The Public Schools as Equity Infrastructure Studio+ is an opportunity for West Philadelphia teens in public school, teachers, Penn graduate students, and faculty to partner with education activists and community-based organizations on the design and implementation of public school campus upgrades that embody a new system-wide vision for schools as equity infrastructure.

Visit theProjects for Progress websitefor more information,or emailprojectsforprogress@sec.upenn.edu.

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2022 Projects for Progress awardees continue working with community | Penn Today - Penn Today

Still many people in our surrounding area are without power. As you drive through Castlewood all you hear is the beeping of trucks/machinery backing up, excavators and payloaders, and the hum of generators running all over town.

The community has continued to rally, lots of the debris and damage has been picked up. The crews and volunteers have done a great job. Hats off to everyone involved.

We have even seen a photo of a utility truck from Utah. Lots of crews from out of our area came and helped pitch in. This gives Otter Tail Power the ability to give some great news.

Below is their most recent release:

[Saturday, May 14, 4:30 p.m.] Our crews made significant progress throughout the day, restoring power to several areas while continuing to address isolated issues in the region.

Below are communities still without power, as well as current estimated restoration times.

Minnesota

South Dakota

If youre still experiencing an outage not listed, and havent yet reported it to us, please call or send us a direct message viaFacebook, said Area Manager Scott Wiese. And if you see damage to power lines or poles, stay safe and stay away.Report damage to us right away.

We'll provide an update on restoration efforts around 9:30 a.m. Sunday atotpco.com/outages.

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Otter Tail Power Company Making Great Progress Many in Castlewood Will Have Power Soon - mykxlg.com

In 2004, when Sheikh Khalifa became President after the death of UAE Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Emirates had already made progress towards becoming an advanced nation.

There was well-developed infrastructure connecting all corners of the country, top-class healthcare, universities aplenty, some of the most spectacular modern architecture and a thriving tourism sector.

Under Sheikh Khalifas guidance, the country has continued to grow, attracting investment and people from across the world, expanding its education and healthcare sectors, and producing myriad developments that are recognised worldwide.

Here we look at some of the main ways in which the UAE has progressed during Sheikh Khalifas presidency.

Crowds gather at Expo 2020 Dubai.Antonie Robertson / The National

The UAE continued its rapid growth in population under Sheikh Khalifa, with the total more than doubling, according to World Bank data, from 4.07 million in 2004 to 9.89 million in 2020, the most recent year for which figures are available.

In 2020, the population grew by 1.2 per cent, according to World Bank figures.

The UN forecasts the population of the Emirates will reach about 11.1 million by 2030, by 2050 around 13.2 million and by 2100 about 14.8 million.

Some experts have forecast faster growth, with Prof Philippe Fargues, director of the migration policy centre at the European University Institute, telling The National he thought Dubais population could double over the next decade.

UAE's GDP has more than doubled in the past two decades, Silvia Razgova / The National

Like other nations, the UAE has experienced significant fluctuations in gross domestic product as a result of the global economic slump of the late 2000s and the coronavirus pandemic.

But the Emirates also proved itself capable of bouncing back from such challenges and, under Sheikh Khalifa, the countrys growth outpaced that of the world as a whole.

In 2004, the UAEs GDP was $147.82 billion, a figure that by 2020 had increased to $358.87bn, an increase of nearly 143 per cent.

Global GDP during the same 18-year period grew from $44.11 trillion to $84.75tn, a more modest increase of a little more than 92 per cent.

This means, overall, that while Sheikh Khalifa was President, economic activity in the UAE grew more than one-and-a-half times as fast as it did in the world as a whole.

Years of major investment in public and private hospitals and attracting top doctors made the UAE well equipped to handle the coronavirus pandemic. Chris Whiteoak / The National

When Sheikh Khalifa became President, the UAE was, thanks to its advanced healthcare system, well ahead of the global average in life expectancy.

Rapid development had taken the nations average life expectancy from 52 years (one year less than the global average) in 1960 to 75 (six years more than the global average) in 2004.

With healthcare provision continuing to develop, the UAEs average life expectancy has further improved, reaching 78 in 2020, which is five years more than the average for the world.

While challenges such as poor diet and lifestyle remain, progress has been made in many areas of healthcare.

For example, in 2005 the UAE recorded about five maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births, but by 2017 the figure had fallen to three for every 100,000 live births, according to data published by the World Health Organisation. Improvements in maternal care, technology and medical education are credited with the improvements.

The UAE has a well-developed public sector schooling system and a myriad of high-performing private schools that teach in every major curriculum.Antonie Robertson / The National

Under Sheikh Khalifa, the UAE significantly expanded its education sector, with globally renowned higher education institutions such as New York University and the Sorbonne opening campuses in the Emirates, and home-grown institutions progressing in international rankings.

Khalifa University was ranked 446th in the world in the QS World University Rankings in 2015, when the university was first listed, but in the 2022 table it had progressed to 183rd.

Other UAE institutions have also moved up, including UAE University, which went from 372nd in 2010 to 288th this year. The American University of Sharjah has moved up from 426th in 2012 to 383rd this year.

In 2009, for the first time, the UAE took part in the rankings of the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa), which measures the attainment of 15-year-old pupils in reading, mathematics and science.

In the 2009, 2012, 2015 and 2018 assessments (the 2021 edition has been postponed until later this year), the UAE achieved results that were below the OECD average, as is the case for most non-OECD nations, but were largely stable, the OECD said.

Abu Dhabi Global Market on Al Maryah Island. Victor Besa / The National

With its central location and business-friendly regulations aimed at promoting economic diversification, the UAE has long been an attractive location for foreign direct investment.

During Sheikh Khalifas presidency, the annual totals fluctuated in line with global economic patterns, but the overall trend was upwards.

In 2004, foreign direct investment into the UAE was valued at $10bn, according to data published by the World Bank. It peaked in 2007 at $14.2bn before the economic crash hit hard, with the total two years later just $1.13bn.

Since then, with much smaller peaks and troughs, the country has achieved steady increases, with FDI growing 11.2 per cent in 2020 to reach $19.9bn.

This growth was achieved despite the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in the global FDI total plunging by 42 per cent in 2020.

Overall, the UAE achieved almost a doubling of FDI between 2004 and 2020, while globally over the same period the total increased only 40.4 per cent, from $612bn to $859bn.

Engineers and technicians at Barakah Nuclear Power Plant outside Abu Dhabi. Courtesy: FANR

During Sheikh Khalifas presidency, the UAE made significant progress when it came to womens representation in the workforce, decision-making bodies, government and education, among other areas.

Figures from the International Labour Organisation published by the World Bank indicate that in 2004, 37 per cent of females aged 15 and over were economically active.

There has been a strong upwards trend for most of the subsequent period, and last year the figure was 47 per cent.

This increase in female participation in the UAE came despite a fall in female labour force participation globally, from 64 per cent of females aged 15 and over being economically active in 2004, to 59 per cent in 2021.

Women make up half the members of the Federal National Council, and the UAE embassy to the US notes that the UAE ranked first in the female parliamentary representation index in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2020.

According to the UAE gender balance council, 95 per cent of females who graduate from high school in the UAE go on to tertiary education, compared to 80 per cent of males.

Updated: May 15, 2022, 11:08 AM

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UAE saw surge in progress in these six areas during Sheikh Khalifa's years in office - The National

Two mRNA vaccines, which received emergency authorization in late 2020, have proven critical in the fight against Covid-19. These vaccines, the first of their kind, were the culmination of decades of research on RNA. Delivered as strands of mRNA that encode a viral protein, the vaccines enter cells and begin producing proteins, allowing the immune system to recognize the virus if encountered later. Following the success of Covid-19 vaccines, researchers hope that mRNA vaccines and therapies will prove useful against many other diseases.

Daniel Anderson, a professor of chemical engineering at MIT and a member of MITs Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, has spent many years working on ways to package and deliver mRNA. Anderson, who recently co-authored a recent Nature Biotechnology review on mRNA therapies, answered some questions from MIT News on the progress of this technology.

Q: What are some of the advantages of RNA vaccines, and how were they developed so rapidly in response to the Covid-19 pandemic?

A: The beauty of RNA vaccines is that once an effective nanoparticle delivery system has been developed, new vaccines targeting new diseases can be rapidly created. For example, Moderna was able to build an optimized mRNA construct a single day after the SARS-CoV-2 DNA sequence was made public, and began dosing patients only weeks later. Conventional vaccine technology is much more slow to develop, and relies on bulk production of a vaccine using mammalian cells in a bioreactor or chicken eggs, while mRNA vaccines turn into the final product only once inside a patients cells. In some ways, mRNA vaccines are using the human body as its own vaccine production facility.

We were lucky that researchers and companies had been working for decades on RNA and nanoparticles, and specifically on the use of mRNA for vaccines for many years. Just as one example, the first RNA nanoparticle drug, Onpattro, was FDA-approved in 2018. While this drug is designed to affect the liver of patients, and has small RNA, not mRNA, the lessons learned in the creation of this drug along with all of the other work helped scientists advance the mRNA vaccines we benefit from today.

Q: What lessons has the development of the Covid-19 vaccines yielded that could help researchers with development of future RNA vaccines?What are some of the challenges that still need to be addressed?

A: There is no question that a lot of important information about Covid-19 vaccines has been learned in the last few years. Today, billions of doses of mRNA vaccines have been given to patients, providing important information about their function, safety, and manufacturing. We have learned that these drugs can be both safe and effective and, importantly, that it is possible to rapidly create a new vaccine to an emergent pathogen. We have also recognized challenges with mRNA vaccines, such as the fact that they must be kept frozen, some at very low temperatures. In the near future I expect we will see mRNA vaccines with improved stability and shelf-life.

Q: What are some examples of diseases where RNA vaccines and other mRNA therapeutics could prove valuable in the future?

A: We are at the beginning of what I believe will be a revolution in medicine. In the near term we will see new mRNA vaccines to new strains of the coronavirus, as well as vaccines against other important diseases like influenza. I am also optimistic that we will see mRNA vaccines and mRNA therapies for diseases where we really dont have solutions, such as HIV and some types of cancer. Longer term, I expect that mRNA therapies will play an important role in certain genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis, where mRNA delivered to the lung could allow lung cells to function more normally. Finally I am excited by the progress in genome editing, and the potential for mRNA nanoparticles to provide a permanent therapy for patients. While this may sound like science fiction, we already have evidence from human trials that in vivo genome editing of the liver is possible.

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3 Questions: Daniel Anderson on the progress of mRNA vaccines - MIT News