Assessing where vaccine efforts stand and the challenges ahead
This is part of our Coronavirus Update series in which Harvard specialists in epidemiology, infectious disease, economics, politics, and other disciplines offer insights into what the latest developments in the COVID-19 outbreak may bring. One of the most popular — and highest-stakes — guessing games to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic is how long it will take to get a vaccine. A Harvard infectious disease expert said on Thursday that how far we are from a vaccine will likely depend on who’s asking. “The question is: ‘Who is ‘we?’” said Barry Bloom, the Joan L. and Julius H. Jacobson Research Professor of Public Health and former dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. If “we” are healthy volunteers willing to be inoculated to see whether an experimental vaccine works, the answer is that some are already getting it, and more will be enrolled in the coming months. Once an...