Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman have been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries that enabled the development of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. The Nobel Assembly praised the laureates for their work which has "fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system" and for contributing to the "unprecedented rate of vaccine development". This technology has been used to develop vaccines for a range of diseases, including COVID-19.