Scientists Are Working on mRNA Vaccines for HIV, Flu, Cancer and More Advertisement Scientists Are Working on mRNA Vaccines for HIV, Flu, Cancer and More The technology used in COVID-19 vaccines may also be used to prevent other viral infections and to treat cancer and multiple sclerosis. Advertisement The same messenger RNA (mRNA) technology used in the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccines, which are around 95% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19, could potentially be used to prevent or treat a wide variety of other diseases. Moderna recently announced that it has started new programs to design mRNA vaccines for HIV, seasonal influenza and Nipah virus, adding to the company’s development portfolio for several other viral diseases and cancer.