Vaccine Makers Hedge Bets On Which One Will Emerge As Effective And Safe
To speed vaccine production from years to months, companies must start making a vaccine in large quantities even before it's clear a vaccine works.
Once upon a time, developing a new vaccine was a step-by-step process that went from concept, to design, to tests in humans, to regulatory approval, to manufacturing.
It was a process that could take a decade or more.
But the urgent need for a COVID-19 vaccine has radically changed all that. Now, the hope is the entire process can be completed in a year or less.
A good example of the new paradigm is a. It's what's called a protein subunit vaccine. The proteins are encased in a nanoparticle that gets injected into a person, along with a generalized immune stimulant known as an adjuvant.
