As with the AIDS pandemic, there is much that scientists have to learn about the virus.
But there is hope.
Goals and Challenges
The timeline itself poses enormous challenges.
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Anything short of this may temper the spread of infections, but not stop them.
Only 6% of vaccines in development make from preclinical research to market release.
These benchmarks are incredibly ambitious, but not impossible.
Some of the individual vaccine components were only 37% effective.
Cost
A vaccine cannot be considered viable if it is not affordable.
New genetic vaccines, including the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccine candidates, are developed in test tubes or tanks.
This requires extensiveepidemiologic researchto determine which populations are at greatest risk of illness and death.
Ethical Dilemmas
Fast-tracking a vaccine minimizes some of the checks and balances designed to keep people safe.
This doesn’t mean that doing so is impossible.
Even if a platform fails, it can point researchers in the direction of more viable ones.
There are benefits and drawbacks to each of the proposed platforms.
Of the 10 vaccine platforms outlined by CEPI, five have never produced a viable vaccine in humans.
Even so, some (like the DNA vaccine platform) have created effective vaccines for animals.
In the United States, the FDA oversees this process.
Other countries or regions have their own regulatory bodies.
Clinical developmentis the stage during which actual research is conducted in humans.
Among them is timing.
This is important to keep people healthy, but can extend vaccine trials over an entire season or year.
Of the platforms approved for testing, inactivated vaccines are among the most common.
For the most recent updates on COVID-19, visit ourcoronavirus news page.
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