On 2 December 2020 the British regulator approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, the first mRNA vaccine to be authorised for people anywhere, and the first person was vaccinated in Coventry on 8 December. The technology, developed over decades by Katalin Kariko, Drew Weissman and others who found how to modify RNA so the body does not reject it, delivers a genetic instruction that teaches cells to make a harmless piece of the virus. Moderna's vaccine followed. Kariko and Weissman received the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Before and after
- 23 November 2020Launch of Chang'e 5
- 25 November 2020Death of Diego Maradona
- 30 November 2020AlphaFold solves the protein-folding problem
- 2 December 2020Death of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
- 2 December 2020The first mRNA vaccine is authorised
- from 9 December 2020 to 4 February 2021Premiere of True Beauty
- 20212021 Russian protests
- 20212021 European floods
- 3 January 2021Discovery of C/2021 A1 (Leonard)
More in Science & technology
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- 1955Discovery of mendelevium
- 14 February 1961Discovery of lawrencium
- c. 1980sInvention of laptop
- 9 November 1994Discovery of darmstadtium
- 8 December 1994Discovery of roentgenium
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 21st century.