MEDICINE Special Feature 1 – The Past, Present, and Future of Vaccines How the commercialization of COVID-19 vaccines will speed up development of mRNA drugs Until now, the process from development to supply of vaccines —— our trump card in the fight against infectious disease —— has been said to take at least 15 years. However, vaccines against the novel coronavirus COVID-19 have been commercialized in just one year. Some are a completely new type of vaccine based on mRNA drugs. The realm of therapeutics based on mRNA drugs is diverse, encompassing not only the treatment of infectious diseases, but also cancer vaccines and antibody drugs. The emergence of mRNA vaccines is set to speed up research and development of mRNA drugs.