Race for Vaccine Intensifies

Four months after a mysterious new virus began its deadly march around the globe, the search for a vaccine has taken on an intensity never before seen in medical research. Seven of the roughly 90 projects being pursued by government, pharmaceutical makers, biotech innovators and academic laboratories have reached the stage of clinical trials. But the whole enterprise remains dogged by uncertainty about whether any coronavirus vaccine will prove effective, how fast it could be made available to millions or billions of people and whether the rush will sacrifice safety. In an era of intense nationalism, the geopolitics of the vaccine race are growing as complex as the medicine. The months of mutual vilification between United States and China over the origins of the virus have poisoned most efforts at cooperation between them. The U.S. government is already warning that American innovations must be protected from theft – chiefly from China. The intensity of the global research effort is such that government and companies are building production lines before they have anything to produce. With the demand for vaccine so intense, there are escalating calls for “human-challenge-trials” to speed the process. Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder whose foundation is spending $250 million to help spur vaccine development, has warned about a critical shortage of a mundane but vital component medical glass. Without sufficient supplies of the glass, there will be too few vials to transport the billions of doses that will ultimately be needed.