Messenger RNA, or mRNA, was discovered in the early 1960s; research into how mRNA could be delivered into cells was developed in the 1970s. So, why did it take until the global COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 for the first mRNA vaccine to be brought to market?

It sounds like the research isn’t new, but there hasn’t been any widely available vaccine since COVID. And given that mRNA vaccines aren’t the only option, it seems safer to stick with a more traditional vaccine.