ArticleVaccines2021
Detailed Dissection and Critical Evaluation of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna mRNA Vaccines.
Article in Vaccines, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 113 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
113 citing papers in PubMed.
- 5' untranslated region (5' UTR) of bovine β-globin in the mRNA constructs translates different types of antigenic proteins.Biotechnology letters · 2026Article
- A transferable SARS-CoV-2 IRES module enables dual translation initiation for enhanced antigen expression in COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.Molecular therapy. Nucleic acids · 2026Article
- Article
- Evolution and Functional Implications of Codon Usage Bias in Eukaryotes.Journal of molecular evolution · 2026Review
- Stoichiometry-induced differential selection on codon optimization among ribosomal protein genes in bacterial species.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Potent and Long-Lasting Immunogenicity Generated by LNP-mRNA gE Antigen Against Varicella Zoster Virus via an AI-Assisted Pipeline.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- CJ-1: an optimized mRNA platform with enhanced protein expression and minimal immunogenicity for therapeutic applications.Gene therapy · 2026Article
- Structurally-optimised HPV16 E7/E6 mRNA-LPP mediates dose-sparing efficacy via tumour microenvironment reprogramming.Molecular biomedicine · 2026Article
- CodonRL: Multi-Objective Codon Sequence Optimization Using Demonstration-Guided Reinforcement Learning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Evolution of Translational Machinery in Fast- and Slow-Growing Bacteria.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Accelerate the Highly Efficient Development of mRNA Vaccines Through Advanced Computational Methods.MedComm · 2026Review
- m6A-Modified Nucleotide Bases Improve Translation of In Vitro-Transcribed Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) mRNA in T Cells.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Global landscape of mRNA vaccine clinical trials: a systematic analysis of ClinicalTrials.gov data.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- mRNA-based immunotherapy platform targeting endometrial cancer.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
- Engineering Anti-Tumor Immunity: An Immunological Framework for mRNA Cancer Vaccines.Vaccines · 2025Review
- SARS-CoV2 and Anti-COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines: Is There a Plausible Mechanistic Link with Cancer?Cancers · 2025Review
- mRNA Cancer Vaccines: From Pandemic Paradigm to Personalized Oncology Therapeutics.Cancer innovation · 2025Review
- Engineering bone tissue with mRNA: from molecular design and delivery to clinical applications.Materials today (Kidlington, England) · 2025Article
- A viral codon usage strategy enhances antigen production and protection in SFTSV mRNA vaccination.NPJ vaccines · 2025Article
- Enhancing mRNA translation efficiency with discriminative and generative artificial intelligence by optimizing 5' UTR sequences.iScience · 2025Article
53 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
The design of Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines involves many different types of optimizations. Proper optimization of vaccine mRNA can reduce dosage required for each injection leading to more efficient immunization programs. The mRNA components of the vaccine need to have a 5'-UTR to load ribosomes efficiently onto the mRNA for translation initiation, optimized codon usage for efficient translation elongation, and optimal stop codon for efficient translation termination. Both 5'-UTR and the downstream 3'-UTR should be optimized for mRNA stability. The replacement of uridine by N1-methylpseudourinine (Ψ) complicates some of these optimization processes because Ψ is more versatile in wobbling than U. Different optimizations can conflict with each other, and compromises would need to be made. I highlight the similarities and differences between Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines and discuss the advantage and disadvantage of each to facilitate future vaccine improvement. In particular, I point out a few optimizations in the design of the two mRNA vaccines that have not been performed properly.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.