Historically, vaccine development has been a male-dominated field.

But today, the science — which is showing spectacular results — is led by women https://trib.al/Hc6jnXY 

Women played a major role in developing the science behind Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech’s mRNA vaccines.

These vaccines teach cells how to make a protein that triggers an immune system response http://trib.al/Hc6jnXY 

Such vaccines are:

Quicker to develop
Safer to use
Easier to manufacture at scale

It’ll probably be adapted to treat other viruses, and even things like skin disorders http://trib.al/Hc6jnXY 

The core work behind the mRNA approach comes from Katalin Kariko, a Hungarian-born émigré who came to the U.S. to research RNA.

After problems raising research money and a bout of cancer, she ended up working with Drew Weissman and made a breakthrough http://trib.al/Hc6jnXY 

Kariko ended up working with BioNTech — a German start-up founded by husband-and-wife team Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci.

You can read more about them here: https://trib.al/ljG8wKK 

Then there is the vaccine from Novavax. Results are not yet published, but early word is that they are very promising.

This vaccine uses an unusual moth cell system to crank out proteins in a highly innovative manner http://trib.al/Hc6jnXY 

Novavax's team is led by Nita Patel, an immigrant from Gujarat, India.

Her vaccine team is identified as “all-female" http://trib.al/Hc6jnXY 

Women and immigrants have been prominent at crucial points:

Lisa A. Jackson led phase one of Moderna’s trial
Noubar Afeyan, Moderna’s co-founder and chairman, was born in Lebanon and moved to Canada, then the U.S. http://trib.al/Hc6jnXY 

The swift development of all these vaccines could end up being the biggest scientific advance in decades – and it’s been driven by people who, in another era, never would have had a chance http://trib.al/Hc6jnXY 

In business, academia and other fields of science, women do not have roles nearly as prominent as they do right now in vaccine development.

Given their contribution to vaccines just this year, think what kind of impact they could have in other areas http://trib.al/Hc6jnXY 

The story of vaccines in the 21st century shows two things:

Society could be better about allocating talent, and reap big gains across a broad variety of areas
It’s possible to remedy talent misallocations if we are willing to take the necessary steps http://trib.al/Hc6jnXY