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These unprecedented times have called for unprecedented measures. With the worst pandemic in a century continuing to take lives, cost jobs, disrupt education, and complicate even mundane chores like grocery shopping, the devastating toll of COVID-19 has prompted the most ambitious race for a vaccine in modern history.
Only rarely have successful vaccines been developed in under five years (1). The mumps vaccine, which was introduced in 1967, is typically seen as the gold standard – and even that took two years of human trials before its public release. Even the possibility of a vaccine within a year of a novel virus’ global outbreak is among the most amazing feats in the history of medicine, let alone its actual distribution around the globe.
However, a vaccine can only work its magic if it can be produced and made available to a critical mass of at-risk consumers – which, in this case, means most of the world’s population of over 7 billion people. Eradicating COVID-19, then, will require logistics, as well as medical, advancements.
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