“CRISPR has nothing to do with the mRNA technology used to create the Covid vaccines.”
ERK!!! WRONG!!! Try again!
https://www.cell.com/molecular-therapy-family/nucleic-acids/fulltext/S2162-2531(22)00044-0
The money quote:
“In summary, our work establishes mRNA-mediated delivery of CRISPR/Cas9-based tools”
Also and from pro-vax NPR:
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/974751834
“The Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines are the first vaccines to be activated by mRNA. These vaccines build on the breakthroughs of the gene-editing technology known as CRISPR.”
What that means is that they transfected cells with mRNA encoding the Cas9 gene. This is similar to the process following injection of the mRNA based vaccines. The mRNA enters the cell, causes the cell to make the protein encoded in the mRNA for a while, after which the cell destroys the mRNA. mRNA has a half-life of hours.
The fact that inserting of mRNA encoding Cas9 and mRNA encoding a modified SARS-CoV-2 spike protein basically use the same method does not mean that CRISPR was in any way involved in creating the Covid-19 vaccines.
Also, according to the Cell paper that you linked, the Cas9 enzyme functions because another RNA (not an mRNA) was transfected into the cells along with the Cas9 mRNA. That other RNA contained a mutation matching the specific site in the DNA that the researchers wanted to modify. The only mRNA present in Covid vaccines does not encode Cas9 and there is no RNA to cause a point mutation in the DNA.
“The Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines are the first vaccines to be activated by mRNA. These vaccines build on the breakthroughs of the gene-editing technology known as CRISPR.”
The NPR interview does not tie CRISPR to the creation of the mRNA vaccine at all. It discusses the vaccine in the context that some of the same techniques are used in delivering mRNA into cells. As far as the mRNA vaccine development being dependent on breakthroughs from CRISPR development, I have my doubts. The technologies were developed more or less in parallel. The fact that some of the methods are similar (for example, delivering mRNA into cells) does not mean that vaccine development was dependent on CRISPR development.
Mostly, that interview appears to be more CRISPR hype. Often, scientists who have discovered a new method of doing something will hype it in order to increase stockholder interest in their biotech company and increase sales of kits they developed to use the method. Is CRISPR really worth all the hype? I doubt it. As I said, it is just another tool in a huge molecular biology toolbox. Everything that can be done with CRISPR was possible using other enzymes and methods prior to the discovery of CRISPR.