Scientists vs politicians: The reality check for “warp speed” vaccine research

Enlarge / In this picture taken on April 29, 2020, engineers work on an experimental vaccine for the COVID-19 coronavirus at the Quality Control Laboratory at the Sinovac Biotech facilities in Beijing (credit: Nicholas Asfouri)

When Donald Trump launched Operation Warp Speed last week, he borrowed language from Star Trek to describe the drive for a Covid-19 vaccine. That means big and it means fast," the US president said, promising an effort moving on at record, record, record speed."

His hope that a coronavirus vaccine might be ready prior to the end of the year" was even quicker than the optimistic-but often repeated-timeline for a vaccine to be ready in 12 to 18 months.

The race for a vaccine appeared to be picking up pace this week when Moderna, a Boston-based biotech company, unveiled early positive results for its potential vaccine in a small trial-and AstraZeneca said it could have the first doses of another vaccine delivered by October if trials are successful.

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