The fight against COVID-19 isn’t over yet. In the US, hospitalisations due to the virus continue, albeit at the lowest rate since the start of the pandemic. States with low vaccination rates run the added risk of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant outbreaks, and the potential for other variants to emerge cannot be discounted. The ongoing struggle to control the virus highlights the need for rapidly deployed antiviral drugs and vaccines. We need them to better combat this virus, as well as diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and pneumonia. The speed at which the industry develops these treatments will have a direct impact on global health, and the magnitude with which we experience future pandemics. Government funding, years of previous coronavirus research, prompt action from regulators, and advanced technology all played a role in giving the world a COVID-19 vaccine in less than a year. While it’s unlikely all these forces will come together in the same way again, we can learn from the events that led to the COVID-19 vaccines, as well as other studies deployed during the pandemic. These lessons help us to find practical solutions that allow us to develop vaccines and anti-infectives more efficiently and at a lower cost.
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