We’ve just heard the Nobel Prize this year was awarded.
Kariko and Weissman’s work now has been rewarded.1
Modifying RNA so it’s good for vaccine,
To produce immunity when new bugs pop on the scene.
So, we used mRNA in the last pandemic,
Practical for new vaccine, not just academic.
Donald’s MAGAts were opposed, heaping loud invective
On the vaccines that we made, though they proved effective.
Those who took the new vaccine had the best survival.
Those who didn’t died in droves with Covid’s arrival.
Anti-vaxxers would make up all sorts of objections
But statistics showed us that they got worse infections.
Science and religion clashed and the winner: science.
Once again, we should have learned where to place reliance.
When the next pandemic spreads, stay among the living;
Get your shots like doctors say; microbes aren’t forgiving.
1 Kariko and Weissman first published a method for modifying RNA so that it could be injected into animals without provoking gross inflammation and could be taken up and stimulate cells of the immune system to react to proteins it encoded.