新冠疫苗何时准备好？
Coronavirus vaccine: When will it be ready? Everything we know so far
Dale Smith
May 13, 2020 8:25 a.m. PT
Scientists are racing to find a cure for the pandemic, and a new fast-tracking protocol could help speed up approval.
Experts are hopeful that a vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus will become available sooner rather than later.
As the death toll from the novel coronavirus nears 300,000 worldwide, doctors and scientists are scrambling to develop multiple vaccines to stop the pandemic. But it's not a competition. It might actually require several different vaccines manufactured and distributed by different labs in order to effectively eradicate COVID-19 from the planet, according to Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, who co-authored a paper about vaccines published May 11 in the journal Science.
Most health experts say that the virus won't stop spreading until 60% to 70% of the world's population is immune. Others say the only way to reach that level of immunity without a monumental death toll is through vaccines. Such is the opinion of Carl T. Bergstrom, a biology professor at the University of Washington and Natalie Dean, an assistant professor of biostatistics at the University of Florida, in a joint editorial published in the New York Times.
There are currently over 100 vaccines reportedly under development, with seven reportedly already in clinical trials. That means there are more scientists working harder and faster on finding a vaccine than ever before in the history of pandemics. But even if one or more of the vaccines now in the works turns out to be effective, the FDA approval process typically takes a year or longer.
It's still too early to make predictions, but here's what we know so far about the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine that may help usher in an end to the current pandemic.
One more note before we get underway. This article is intended to be a resource to help you understand current coronavirus vaccine research. It isn't intended to serve as medical advice. If you're seeking more information about coronavirus testing, here's how to find a testing site near you (and here's another way for Apple Maps users). Here's how to know if you qualify for a test and why there aren't any coronavirus at-home test kits yet. This story is updated frequently as new information comes to light.