Published:
Since the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors and scientists have told the public that a vaccine will be the most effective way to stop the spread of COVID-19. More than 6 months later, the United States, China, Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom all have vaccines going through testing in phase 3.
Potential Coronavirus vaccines have been developed at historically fast rates; a typical vaccine takes about 10 years to create, whereas the Coronavirus vaccine is set to be completed in less than two years. One of the main concerns with the Coronavirus vaccine in the U.S. is that the entire process is being rushed due to the upcoming presidential election in November. To combat this fear, 9 vaccine makers have signed a pledge which states that they will uphold "high ethical standards,” and that they won’t seek government approval until they have a vaccine that they know is safe.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, over 160 U.S. companies started the process of creating a global COVID-19 vaccine. The U.S. government has tried to move this process along even quicker by giving manufacturing contracts to glass and syringe supplies so that when the vaccines are ready, the U.S. will have the proper supplies to distribute it. They also gave away 10.8 billion USD to companies to continue research and testing.
Internationally, some countries have already started giving the vaccine to limited members of their country. In China, a group found that their test vaccine was safe, and it led to the creation of protective antibodies. Now, the government is making the vaccine available to Chinese military members. In Russia, a vaccine met government approval and is now being distributed to citizens who are more vulnerable to the virus.
While there have been many promising developments with Coronavirus vaccines, AstraZeneca had to pause their vaccine trial after a participant in the U.K. developed an unexplained illness. Other companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Moderna are continuing to push forward with their own vaccine trials.
File under
Share this article
