Much like how everyone’s holiday will be unique in one way or another, so too will the advice they will receive from their local travel health clinic, as their medical history, schedule, destination and a variety of other factors will require a tailored strategy to help protect them whilst on holiday.
One of the most important tools that you can use to keep yourself safe whilst on holiday is travel vaccines, which, alongside the routine immunisation schedule, either reduce the risk or reduce the chance of serious complications of many major infectious diseases.
However, a new approach to vaccination that has been developed is through the use of mRNA
to develop an entirely new range of vaccines that can be developed more quickly to target diseases, protect from outbreaks of rare diseases or even help to protect against certain types of cancers.
Here is a brief guide to mRNA vaccines, how they work, why they are being developed and how they can make travel safer now and in the future.
What Are MRNA Vaccines?
An mRNA vaccine is an injectable immunisation that uses messenger ribonucleic acid to deliver instructions to your DNA to start generating antibodies in order to protect against a particular pathogen.
Once the instructions are complete and the antibodies are generated, the body’s immune system is able to battle the real virus, bacteria or cause of disease.
Whilst mRNA had been experimented with for a long time, the first major widespread use of the concept was in the COVID-19 vaccines, which allowed it to be developed so quickly and work so effectively to make travel significantly safer in 2021 and beyond.
How Do MRNA Vaccines Differ From More Conventional Vaccines?
To someone getting their routine or travel immunisations, there is very little difference between an mRNA vaccine and one created using traditional methods such as live attenuation.
A traditional vaccine will use a weakened, non-infectious form of a live bacterium or virus to deliberately provide a safe, weakened form of the infection. This produces an antibody response that gets the body ready for a real infection.
It is the immunological version of a fire safety drill or a dress rehearsal; it provides the body with a test that will allow it to immediately recognise and act when the virus enters the system.
The disadvantage of using a live vaccine is that people who have weaker immune systems may not be able to have some vaccines, although this is rare, and there are often alternative vaccines that can be taken in many instances.
As well as this, mRNA vaccines tend to be made in the same way but simply with different instructions, meaning that they can be produced quickly, reliably and affordably, which can potentially save people money if they need to pay for elective immunisations.
Why Are MRNA Vaccines Making Travel Safer?
Outside of the historical precedent that the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of lives and helped to make travel safe once airports and borders opened up again, mRNA vaccines are a major factor in helping to make travel safer.
Because they can be developed and produced so quickly, they can theoretically be deployed to help control outbreaks and greatly reduce the risk of infection and serious complications in a region.
They can also be used to immunise against diseases for which there is no major approved vaccination as of yet. One example of this type of disease is the infectious Zika virus, a vaccine for which is currently undergoing phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials and appears to show promise.
Another field where significant amounts of research are being deployed is in seasonal flu vaccination. As it can be adjusted and “programmed” more quickly than conventional vaccination, it means that more people can be better protected.
A final, more fascinating and as-yet experimental field of study is that the protein-based nature of mRNA vaccines means that they can be used not only for immunisation but also for treatment.
Several phase 1 clinical trials have been undertaken to find both preventative and therapeutic vaccines for HIV, the latter of which would reduce the need for antiretrovirals from daily or weekly medication to an annual injection, allowing people who are HIV positive to live a normal, healthy life.
There have also been suggestions that mRNA could theoretically be used in the future to target and destroy cancer cells, due to the capabilities of the programming technology.
This is part of a wider field of research into tailored cancer treatments that could help to improve the prognosis of one of the biggest causes of unnatural death in the world.