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when a new pathogen emerges our bodies
and healthcare systems are left
vulnerable in times like these there's
an urgent need for a vaccine to create
widespread immunity with minimal loss of
life so how quickly can we develop
vaccines when we need them most vaccine
development can generally be split into
three phases an exploratory research
scientists experiment with different
approaches to find safe and replicable
vaccine designs once these are vetted in
the lab they enter clinical testing
where vaccines are evaluated for safety
efficacy and side effects across a
variety of populations
finally there's manufacturing where
vaccines are produced and distributed
for public use under regular
circumstances this process takes an
average of 15 to 20 years but during a
pandemic researchers employ numerous
strategies to move through each stage as
quickly as possible exploratory research
is perhaps the most flexible the goal of
this stage is to find a safe way to
introduce our immune system to the virus
or bacteria this gives our body the
information it needs to create
antibodies capable of fighting a real
infection there are many ways to safely
trigger this immune response but
generally the most effective designs are
also the slowest to produce traditional
attenuated vaccines create long-lasting
resilience but they rely on weakened
viral strains that must be cultivated in
non-human tissue over long periods of
time inactivated vaccines take a module
faster approach directly applying heat
acid or radiation to weaken the pathogen
saw the unit vaccines that inject
harmless fragments of viral proteins can
also be created quickly but these faster
techniques produce less robust
resilience
these are just three of many vaccine
designs each with their own pros and
cons no single approach is guaranteed to
work and all of them require
time-consuming research so the best way
to speed things up is for many labs to
work on different models simultaneously
this race to the finish
strategy produced the first testable
Zika vaccine in seven months and the
first testable code 19 vaccine in just
42 days being testable doesn't mean
these vaccines will be successful but
models that are deemed safe and easily
replicable can move into clinical
testing while other labs continue
exploring alternatives whether a
testable vaccine is produced in four
months or four years the next stage is
often the longest and most unpredictable
stage of development clinical testing
consists of three phases each containing
multiple trials phase one trials focus
on the intensity of the triggered immune
response and try to establish that
vaccine is safe and effective Phase two
trials focus on determining the right
dosage and delivery schedule across a
wider population and Phase three trials
determine safety across the vaccines
primary use population while also
identifying rare side effects and
negative reactions given the number of
variables and the focus on long-term
safety it's incredibly difficult to
speed up clinical testing in extreme
circumstances researchers run multiple
trials within one phase at the same time
but they still need to meet strict
safety criteria before moving on
occasionally labs can expedite this
process by leveraging previously
approved treatments in 2009 researchers
adapted the seasonal flu vaccine to
treat h1n1 producing a widely available
vaccine in just six months however this
technique only works when dealing with
familiar pathogens that have well
established vaccine designs
after successful phase three trial a
national regulatory authority reviews
the results and approves safe vaccines
for manufacturing every vaccine has a
unique blend of biological and chemical
components that require a specialized
pipeline to produce to start production
as soon as the vaccine is approved
manufacturing plans must be designed in
parallel to research and testing this
requires constant coordination between
labs and manufacturers as well as the
resources to adapt to sudden changes in
vaccine design even if that means
scrapping months of work overtime
advances in exploratory research and
manufacturing should make this process
faster preliminary studies suggest that
future researchers may be able to swap
genetic material from different viruses
into the same vaccine design these DNA
and mrna based vaccines could
dramatically expedite all three stages
of vaccine production but until such
breakthroughs arrive our best strategy
is for labs around the world to
cooperate and work in parallel on
different approaches by sharing
knowledge and resources scientists can
divide and conquer any pathogen when it
comes to defeating a global pandemic
vaccination and viral testing go
hand-in-hand but what does it take to
develop reliable tests that show if
you've been exposed to a certain virus
find out with this video or learn more
about how pandemics end with this video