The trials, tribulations and timeline of a COVID-19 vaccine
Developing a vaccine usually takes five to 10 years, costs about a billion dollars and has a failure rate of 93 percent. Under the pressure of the coronavirus pandemic, scientists are being asked to speed that timeline up to 12 to 18 months, says Jerome Kim, director general of the International Vaccine Institute. How are things going? Kim updates us on the varied field of vaccine candidates and discusses the challenges of making sure the one that works gets distributed to the whole world. (This virtual conversation, hosted by head of TED David Biello, was recorded June 15, 2020.)