Photo/Illutration A health care worker holds a vial of Pfizer's novel coronavirus vaccine at the Tokyo Medical Center in Meguro Ward on Feb. 17. (Pool)

If I say that the origins of a novel coronavirus vaccine can be traced to a teddy bear, I imagine people will look at me strangely.

But that's how it was with Hungarian biochemist Katalin Kariko, whose research contributed to the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.

In 1985, Kariko was a young researcher in her native Hungary when she decided to cross the Iron Curtain with her husband and young daughter to work in the United States.

The couple sold their car and stuffed the proceeds in their daughter's teddy bear for safekeeping when they left Hungary, according to reports by CNN and other media.

Kariko focused her research on the development of a therapeutic vaccine with mRNA (messenger RNA), which plays a key role in the process of copying a gene from the DNA. But the decades that ensued at a U.S. university were filled with hardships and setbacks.

Traditional vaccines are made by breeding viruses in chicken eggs. But because mRNA uses only the genetic information of viruses, it was considered capable of producing vaccines faster.

However, the chances of success were considered low by most researchers back then and her applications for grants were repeatedly rejected.

"Usually, at that point, people just say goodbye and leave because it's so horrible," Kariko later recalled.

But she never gave up.

She eventually co-developed an effective method with her colleagues, and it became the basis of novel coronavirus vaccine research at Pfizer Inc. and other pharmaceutical companies.

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, few experts expected the development of an effective vaccine to be easy.

But their pessimism has since been proven wrong.

In Israel and Britain where mass vaccinations have proceeded swiftly, the vaccines have proved quite effective.

Japan will start vaccinating senior citizens possibly next month.

In a media interview in the United States, Kariko said, "My husband always, even today, says, ‘This is entertainment for you.'"

Her passion and ingenuity continue to propel medicine forward.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 26

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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