THE AMAZUNG VACCINE RACE
THE RACE IS ON FOR A VACCINE that will bring the COVID-19 pandemic to heel. Dozens of contenders from around the world have leapt from the starting blocks, dashing towards the finish line as the whole world looks on with bated breath. “It’s definitely a strange world to be in,” says Keith Chappell from the University of Queensland in St Lucia. “We’re suddenly kind of famous – for scientists.”
The arduous trek from lab to jab has been compressed like never before. Taking a vaccine through pre-clinical animal studies, followed by three phases of human trials – Phase 1 for safety, Phase 2 to check it works and find the right dose, and Phase 3 testing in tens of thousands of people – usually takes decades. This time, some companies aim to deliver a finished product less than a year after the novel coronavirus started making people ill in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December.
Governments, too, are eager. Many are bankrolling programs to accelerate development. Several, including the US, the UK and the EU, have inked deals with pharmaceutical companies for hundreds of millions of doses of yet-to-be-approved vaccines.
“It’s been relentless,” says Chappell, who is
