This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to a transformative medical technology that significantly altered the path of the pandemic and saved millions: the mRNA vaccines against COVID. Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman were jointly awarded the prize for advancements that have changed the field of vaccine development and researchers’ understanding of how messenger RNA (mRNA) interacts with the body’s immune system.

On Monday, the Nobel Prize for Medicine recognized the work of Hungarian researcher Katalin Karikó and her American colleague Drew Weissman in the development of messenger RNA vaccines, decisive in the fight against COVID-19.