Vaccine Development

There's lots of promising news about vaccines and other treatments in development, some of which are already starting trials in humans. What people aren't understanding yet is that if a vaccine becomes available in a year from now, that is lightning speed. Even my husband asked me yesterday, "Can't they just do it faster and approve things faster?" They are. It normally takes an average of 12 years for a new drug to go from discovery to approval.

Even once regulatory agencies are satisfied that it is safe and effective, it will take time to produce it and deliver to patients. And we'll have to prioritize who gets it - a vaccine should first be given to people most at risk of infection, like medical professionals and first responders, and people with other conditions that put them more at risk of serious complications from COVID-19.

Just wanted to put that out there, as someone with a tiny amount of insight into this industry... If you want more details about the typical vaccine development process, I found a great article that explains it very clearly.

I talked today to my colleague who is currently recovering from COVID-19 - they are doing much better and never really got bad symptoms, but they were very exhausted and just starting to get their energy back now. I'm actually surprised they were able to work through their recovery. I heard today that I have another colleague who may have the disease (also located in somewhat of a "hotbed" area), and this person is on medical leave, though I heard they are also not in serious condition.