COVID-19 Vaccine: How soon?

Research & Development (R&D)process for pharmaceuticals takes between 8–15years. The discovery or preclinical testing period is about half of this time, while clinical trials could take another half from phase 1–3. The development success rate at approval stage is usually low.

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‪The race to get a COVID-19 vaccine within a shorter period is commendable, promising and achievable because of the following: ‬
‪1. Shortened discovery phase due to the ease in sequencing the virus information. Covid-19 virus information is similar to other Coronaviruses‬ which were already sequenced. The first genetic information for the virus was made available as soon as the outbreak started in China.
‪2. Large and concurrent clinical trials across the world. This makes success or failure of the trial vaccine to be identified earlier.
‪3. Necessity is the mother of invention. It is a pandemic and all hands on deck. The regulatory and other processes are likely to run concurrently and faster.

Although it may take months to several years for the vaccines to be widely available, the best bet in the meantime remains the current containment strategy.