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Asked by anon-253717 on 7 May 2020. This question was also asked by anon-254046, anon-254041, anon-256666.
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Ben Wiggins answered on 7 May 2020:
Hi Summer, thanks for your question! To develop a vaccine in normal circumstances (ie outside a pandemic) scientists would spend years to first understand the immune response to the virus or bacteria, and then come up with a way to precisely activate the right parts of the immune system to give us long term protection. Then their candidate vaccine has to be trialled, normally first in a dish, then in animals, then finally in humans before it can be marketed all rolled out to the public. The ways vaccines work is by stimulating your adaptive immune system – T cells and B cells. B cells make antibodies that can give long lasting protection, while T cells either kill virus-infected cells directly or help the rest of the immune system fight better and for longer. Vaccines normally use a bit of dead virus, or a small piece of the whole virus to activate just the right B and T cells, and make sure lots of these cells stay around in the body for a long time, so if the real virus ever gets in they get rid of it extremely quickly!
In coronavirus, the need for a vaccine is extremely important so the process is being sped up faster than ever before, but never at the expense of safety and efficiency. We need a vaccine that is safe and effective for everyone, no matter their age, or if their immune system is also having to deal with other diseases, and the best way to do that is to take our time and find out exactly what the optimum immune response to the novel coronavirus looks like and then try and replicate that in vaccine studies.
I hope that helps, lots of great resources on immunology, vaccines and coronavirus from the british society of immunology. Here is a link to some good info on vaccines: https://www.immunology.org/sites/default/wp-content/uploads/sites/1/files/BSI_Celebrate_vaccines_report_2020_FINAL.pdf
and here is a good question and answer session they did on all things coronavirus: https://www.immunology.org/news/coronavirus-immunology-qa-what-you-need-know-about-our-new-report
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Lucy McGowan answered on 19 May 2020:
Ben has already given a great answer! Vaccines usually take around 10-15 years, sometimes longer, to make. Scientists making and trialling coronavirus vaccines are working super-hard at the moment to try to get one ready to use as soon as possible, aiming for within a year. As Ben said, you first have to do a lot of research in order to make a vaccine (which takes time), you then need to rigorously test is. Over 100 vaccine candidates for coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) have been created in this very short period of time – that’s just incredible! This resource shows you jus how many they are and at what stage of development they’re at: https://vac-lshtm.shinyapps.io/ncov_vaccine_landscape/
Humans trials are now already underway with some of these vaccine candidates. Human trials take place in multiple phases, the first is to test if it is safe and then scientists test things like the dose needed and whether the vaccine actually works. A vaccine will only be approved if it is both safe and is effective (i.e. gives good immunity against the virus). Scientists also have to try to make sure that this immunity lasts a long time or if not, like with flu vaccines, that they can adapt the vaccine regularly as the virus mutates. This tells you more about how vaccines work and what types are being developed for coronavirus: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01221-y
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