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Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021

nobelprize.org

61–70 of 121 posts

Re: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021

#61
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the one side, you are correct and it's only last year / this year that mRNA vaccines have seen widespread adoption. On the other, mRNA research goes back to the 80's, and mRNA vaccine research goes back twenty years; these facts are often overlooked by the "it was developed too fast" crowds. That said, > It's not a popularity content. And yet, they gave Obama the Nobel Peace Prize the year he was elected, without…

The Nobel peace prize is handed out by a different committee compared to the other prizes, so how its handled should generally not be seen as an indicator for the other Nobel prizes.

Does that go for the "Nobel" prize in economics as well?

Re: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021

#62
post #32

I believe Nobels for mRNA vaccines will come next year or in the year after. There's no urgency when it comes to awarding Nobel Prizes.

Some urgency since they don't give the award to people that have passed away.

Katalin Karikó is 66 now and not 99 ;)

Re: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021

#63
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I was hoping to see, an award to Karikó and Weissman for their mRNA research. I'm sure they'll get the Nobel within the next few years, but it would have been appropriate to award it now. The Nobel Committee doesn't rush the prizes, and they don't generally go to new research, but mRNA would be a very justified exception. We're currently in the worst pandemic in a century, and over the last ten months we'…

I have to say, awarding it for mRNA research could easily save lives by turning a few of the vaccine-hesitant.

How? Pretty sure scientists praising other scientists isn't what those people are looking for.

Re: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021

#64
post #57
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>On the other, mRNA research goes back to the 80's, and mRNA vaccine research goes back twenty years; these facts are often overlooked by the "it was developed too fast" crowds. I am on that camp, that it was developed too fast and I do not think people should be mistreated because they think that. After all, there has been some adverse effects for some of the people who took it (like the auto-immune disease for the…

Janssen vaccine is vector based, not mRNA like Pfizer Comirnaty or Moderna. Although vaccinated people can be infected and even spread the virus, the disease is usually mild, amount of infectious virus and the time they are infectious is much smaller. And that is no speciality of covid immunizations, other vaccines like measles or influenza also don't prevent infection, but aim to prevent the disease. The "not fully…

> Although vaccinated people can be infected and even spread the virus, the disease is usually mild, amount of infectious virus and the time they are infectious is much smaller.

I confess I haven't watched that video yet, but I believe there are not any studies that claim that "amount of infectious virus and the time they are infectious is much smaller". But I will watch it later and see if something new came up. I claim this because not long ago, our prime minister was infected after being fully vaccinated and had to be at home for 10 days before coming back to work.

Like I said, I am healthy and can work from home, so I have the luxury of waiting a little while to make my decision. After all, I am only affecting myself with this decision. A lot of people die from smoking/drinking alcohol as well, should we prevent them from getting it?

Re: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021

#65
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I fail to understand is how you seem to think that you can can assess the risks associated with contracting the virus better than the risks associated with getting the vaccine. At this point, so many more people have received the vaccine than have contracted the virus that I think it's fairly safe to say that we know much more about how people react to the vaccine than the virus (which also keeps mutating unlike…

> What I fail to understand is how you seem to think that you can can assess the risks associated with contracting the virus better than the risks associated with getting the vaccine. As I said, I cannot. Actually, nobody can. What I do know is: - A vast majority of who gets the virus does not die or get any effects. - A lot of people who die of Covid-19 has a comorbidity factor of 4 (Which means suffers from 4 comor…

>A vast majority of who gets the virus does not die or get any effects.

To the OP's point, the same can be said about the vaccine. Their point being, because of the transmissibility of the virus, it's fairly safe to assume that most people leading normal lives will be exposed to the virus at some point so the choice is whether or not to be exposed while vaccinated or not. There seems to be less uncertainty around the vaccine than the virus, so the risks are better known.

Re: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly have this years Nobel research been significant for? Like in real terms?

Check out the image in their scientific motivation to see where this has played a role. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2021/10/press-medicine202...

You can write lists like that for pretty much half the genes in the genome. If you ask a pharma company to rank order genes they would like to get exclusively as targets these would be ranked in 4 digits if not 3. There’s a reason no lab bothered to discover it for so long.

Sydney Brenner said in the 60s that they already discovered all there is to molecular biology and leave the details to the “Americans” (1). These are the details. This work would have been pedestrian back in the 60s, it’s downright boring at this point. When people ask why science sucks today this is a great example. Not that this research was performed, of course someone had to at some point. But that people have been led to believe this is worth of celebration at this level.

[1] https://www.hobertlab.org/how-the-worm-got-started/ and https://www.genetics.org/content/165/4/1633

Re: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021

#67
post #3

I would have appreciated this year's one going for mRNA vaccine research as this would have been clearly the one to meet Nobel's will.

I can only assume they are waiting until next year to be sure how the vaccine picture shakes out. MRNA vaccines are clearly safe and effective, and have saved countless lives, but with the dopey politics in Sweden about Covid, I am not really that surprised.

[deleted]

Re: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021

#68
post #61
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Nobel peace prize is handed out by a different committee compared to the other prizes, so how its handled should generally not be seen as an indicator for the other Nobel prizes.

Does that go for the "Nobel" prize in economics as well?

I don't know and I don't care about that faux prize.

The Peace prize is handled by a special Norwegian committee in accordance with Nobel's wishes, so it has its own everything (including its own ceremony), while the other prizes are all under the same umbrella in some form (although I believe the scientific subcommittees doing the acual awarding are independent).

Re: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021

#69
post #61
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Nobel peace prize is handed out by a different committee compared to the other prizes, so how its handled should generally not be seen as an indicator for the other Nobel prizes.

Does that go for the "Nobel" prize in economics as well?

Yes, it is not even a Nobel price.

Re: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021

#70
post #49
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the current practice, but siva7 is right in regards to timing and Nobel's will: "to be distributed annually as prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." ( https://www.nobelprize.org/alfred-nobel/full-text-of-alfred-... )

If you look back it’s usually a decade or more before a discovery gets a Nobel prize. Which makes sense, since it’s relevance isn’t usually immediately apparent.

Yes, but you'd be hard put to argue that there was an invention that got more benefit for humanity than mRNA vaccines in 2021.
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