Several COVID-19 vaccines necessary to overcome pandemic, experts say

A new article from a quartet of scientific leaders, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), is outlining the challenges to overcome in the development of a COVID-19 vaccine over the next one to two years. The scientists suggest it will take not one, but multiple successful vaccines, to get through this pandemic and return to normality.

"We're experiencing a series of unprecedented events with a disease that has spread globally and infected more people in a shorter time than any other infection in modern times," says co-author Larry Corey, a professor in the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. "In order to overcome the challenges in front of us, we each need to bring nothing short of our absolute best. The research and development of COVID-19 vaccines will require creativity, cooperation and commitment to save as many lives as possible as soon as we can."

Discussing the variety of vaccines currently in the development, the article suggests several different vaccines must be successful in order to effectively meet the world’s needs. “No single vaccine or vaccine platform alone is likely to meet the global need, and so a strategic approach to the multi-pronged endeavor is absolutely critical,” the authors write in the article.

The ultimate message of the article is a general call for harmonious global collaboration across vaccine development, manufacture and distribution processes.