On 11th January 2020 when the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 was made public by China, many global Research and Development activities began globally for the development of vaccines. Since then the pressure of falling economies and humanitarian needs have been driving the evaluation of the next-generation vaccine technologies and companies to work at a speed that is shifting the paradigms of them. We have come a long way since the first COVID-19 vaccine effort to the entry of a vaccine candidate for human trials. Currently, the world has 115 candidates for COVID-19 vaccines, of which 78 are registered and 37 are unconfirmed.
The pandemic comes at a time when the FDA has already been authorizing medications faster than ever. Regulatory reforms over the past decade have received support from the pharmaceutical industry, while others have worried about potentially slackening standards. Drug manufacturers are speeding efforts to put in vaccines and therapies for Covid-19, carrying out research schedules of unparalleled brevity, and pushing vaccines into clinical trials just months after the virus was first detected and sequenced. The pace is key to saving lives, but it also raises risks.
There are many challenges to vaccine development for the novel coronavirus as every stage from discovery to delivery and impact accounts for not only the lives of people but also the deep impact on the situation of the world. Accelerating the efforts for COVID-19 efforts should mean compromises in quality and quantity. The pace of development of research and trials and errors and the general uncertainty surrounding the SARS-CoV-2 virus can impede vaccine efforts. The main goal for all the vaccine candidates is to create such a strong antibody response that has a functional activity that can neutralize or block virus entry in the cells.
Ultimately, good international collaboration and cooperation between vaccine developers, regulators, policymakers, funders, public health bodies, and governments would be required for the COVID-19 vaccine effort and to ensure that promising late-stage vaccine candidates can be produced in adequate quantities and equitably delivered to all affected areas, especially low-resource regions.
