How COVID-19 vaccines were developed in record time, without compromising safety

When Ebola exploded across West Africa in 2014, it took more than five years to get a vaccine approved by drug regulators.

Fast forward to 2020, and researchers were able to develop multiple protective coronavirus vaccines and get them authorised within 12 months of the virus being discovered.

It’s a spectacular and unparalleled scientific achievement — and promises to help bring the pandemic under control.

But it’s left some people wondering: if vaccines normally take years to develop, just how did we get here so fast?

Previous research and pandemic prep

It can be tempting to think that COVID-19 vaccine development kicked off when…