[At least 68 vaccine candidates under development]

Area of Science:

• Vaccinology
• Virology
• Immunology

Background:

• The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 necessitated rapid vaccine development.
• Traditional vaccine development timelines range from 10-15 years.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the accelerated pace of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development.
• To document the diverse range of vaccine platforms being utilized.

Main Methods:

• Leveraging existing technological platforms for vaccine design.
• Conducting preclinical and clinical testing in parallel.
• Monitoring the progress of multiple vaccine candidates.

Main Results:

• As of March 29th, at least 68 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates were identified.
• The first vaccine candidate reached clinical testing in just over 9 weeks post-genetic sequence publication.
• Diverse vaccine designs include whole killed virus, subunit, attenuated, viral vector, DNA, and mRNA platforms.

Conclusions:

• SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development is proceeding at an unprecedented speed.
• Technological advancements and parallel testing strategies have significantly expedited the process.