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However, there are also great lessons to be learned from this experience. Certainly, virtual visits have proven
to enhance access to cancer care in remote regions in much of the technologically advanced world.
Although we must guard against virtual visits replacing the importance of face-to-face meetings, including
physical examination, virtual visits can allow patients to potentially receive important cancer care close to
their home while still accessing high-quality expert advice from an oncologist located hours away.

In addition, the spectacular and rapid development of vaccines using novel mRNA technologies has opened
a whole new view of cancer therapies as well. Although dedicated teams of investigators have been exploring
therapies based on native or modified RNA transcripts for several decades, we are now witnessing the fruits
of those efforts . There is every reason to believe that this technology, which has now proven itself in
[3]
during the Covid19 epidemic, will prove helpful in the future in delivering targeted proteins and peptides
[4,5]
via mRNA technology to cancers .
In this issue, the authors address some of these issues. The battle with Covid19 is far from over or even won.
However, as oncologists, we should appreciate more than many others that the battle for control over a
disease is often long and filled with disappointments. Nonetheless, as we are already seeing, constant effort
and scientific inquiry should lead us to not only control this coronavirus but improve cancer care for our
patients.

DECLARATIONS
Authors’ contributions
The author contributed solely to the article.

Availability of data and materials
Not applicable.

Financial support and sponsorship
None.

Conflicts of interest
The author declared that there are no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.

Consent for publication
Not applicable.

Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021.

REFERENCES
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3. Shin MD, Shukla S, Chung YH, et al. COVID-19 vaccine development and a potential nanomaterial path forward. Nat Nanotechnol
2020;15:646-55. DOI PubMed
4. Copur M. Messenger RNA vaccines: beckoning of a New Era in cancer immunotherapy. Oncology (Williston Park) 2021;35:190-8.
DOI PubMed
5. McNamara MA, Nair SK, Holl EK. RNA-based vaccines in cancer immunotherapy. J Immunol Res 2015;2015:794528. DOI PubMed
PMC