Why a coronavirus vaccine could take way longer than a year

Considering the history and science behind making these drugs, “a year to 18 months would be absolutely unprecedented,” one expert warns.

By Nsikan Akpan

PUBLISHED April 10, 2020

01_vaccine_1208040950

A researcher works on a vaccine against the new coronavirus COVID-19 at the Copenhagen's University research lab in Copenhagen, Denmark, on March 23, 2020. - At Copenhagen university, a team of about 10 researchers is working around the clock to develop a vaccine against Covid-19 that could apply for clinical trial before within nine months. The vaccine will be based on two components : the protein which is on the surface of the coronavirus, called the spike protein that researchers express in the lab and then attach it on the surface of a virus-like particle.

Photograph by Thibault Savary, AFP via Getty Images

Penn Presbyterian Medical Center is waiting for the wave. The staff at the Philadelphia hospital is anxiously bracing for the storm surge of coronavirus cases that has already swept over nearby New York and New Jersey, overwhelming those states’ health-care systems and stacking bodies in its wake.

“You go from thing to thing to thing, and at the end of the day you still have 20 things that you have to resolve because so much is happening,” says Judith O’Donnell, director of infection prevention and control at Penn Presbyterian.

Across the country, health-care providers like O’Donnell are facing these overwhelming conditions knowing it may be a long time until they can access a particularly useful weapon against this viral onslaught: a vaccine. Vaccines stop outbreaks before they run amok, as evidenced by more than two centuries of using the medical technology to successfully battle foes including measles and influenza. (See why vaccines are critical to keeping diseases at bay.)

Drug companies and universities are now racing to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, with at least 62 efforts currently underway, according to...

Read the rest of this article on NatGeo.com

You are leaving nationalgeographic.com. Different terms of use will apply.

CONTINUE

DISMISS

Why a coronavirus vaccine could take way longer than a year

Considering the history and science behind making these drugs, “a year to 18 months would be absolutely unprecedented,” one expert warns.

Follow Us