> That's much more of a creative work.

Probably worth noting that patents are not required to be creative. That's copyright terminology.

I think the terminology used for patents is something like "inventive and useful".

> It's an interesting structure...

I think that's the question. I'm very much used to reading "A machine-readable medium, comprising..." I'm curious what bits are unique to COVID-19, and what bits are generally protecting the idea of using a carrier to send a specific protein. In this case, is it the "S" protein phrasing that protects the specific embodiment of COVID19's spike?

Here what is claimed is encoding for any betacoronavirus's spike protein.

> Here what is claimed is encoding for any betacoronavirus's spike protein.

Aha! That's what is surprising to me - I assumed that that would have been done previously / protected previously. That explains it.

If it's just the spike protein encapsulated in a lipid nanoparticule (for isolation and transportation?), that looks like something not creative and quite established for people in the field of genetic material transport.

My layperson's understanding is that the actual spike protein and/or mRNA are modified from the natural versions. Both for stabilization (if either falls apart quickly, they're of no use) and for response optimization.

So somewhat like how a fishing fly differs from the insect it represents.