mRNA vaccines represent an amazing revolution in vaccine development and deployment. While Covid has brought us the first mass vaccination using the mRNA technology, mRNA vaccines have been extensively tested in recent years against the treatment of other viruses and have been found to be safe and effective. Traditional vaccines use some form of the virus coating (either a dead or weakened virus itself or a specific protein from its outer shell) to create an immune response in the human body so that important antibodies can be created. In contrast, mRNA vaccines actually teach our own cells to make that same protein which then triggers that same immune response, thus producing the antibodies we need to fight the virus should we be exposed.  The mRNA vaccine basically provides the human body with the blueprint necessary to create some of the viral protein itself, which in turn will stimulate the production of antibodies needed to fight the Covid virus.