The Race To Create A Vaccine

How scientists will bring an end to the coronavirus pandemic

- Andy Ridgway

What were you doing on 10 January 2020? It was a Friday, so chances are you were arranging to meet up with friends. The days of completely unrestricted normality seem a distant memory. But it’s the date that the race to create a coronavirus vaccine began. That day, the Chinese government released the genetic sequence of the virus – SARS-CoV-2 – responsible for the pandemic. It enabled researchers around the world to start building bits of the virus in their labs, with the aim of developing a vaccine that will make us immune.

There are around 35 research teams around the world now working on a vaccine. Millions are being pumped into vaccine development by organizations and wealthy individuals, including Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, who has pledged to build factories for the seven (as yet unannounced) leading candidates. Meanwhile, a handful of teams, including US biotech businesses Novavax and Moderna, and a team at the University of Oxford, are supported by a foundation called the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI).

The University of Oxford’s team is one of the furthest along the path to a vaccine. “I got the sequence on 10 January and then we spent the weekend deciding what to put in our vaccine,” says immunologist Dr. Teresa Lambe, who is one of the vaccine team leaders at the university’s Jenner Institute. Since then, the work has been intense. “I haven’t had a weekend off. I’ve worked through gastro [a stomach bug]. I’ve worked through birthdays. I haven’t seen my children. It’s been exhausting.”

“Given how widespread the virus is, it seems unlikely that it will just disappear. The sooner we have a vaccine, the sooner certainty can return to our lives.”