Fred Hutch, NIH experts outline an efficient approach to creating COVID-19 vaccines

reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.May 11, 2020

Unprecedented resources and collaboration will be required to research and develop safe and effective vaccines for COVID-19 that can be manufactured and delivered on the scale of billions of doses to people around the world.

Vaccine development often takes years. To speed up the process, Dr. Larry Corey of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and experts from the National Institutes of Health outline a vision to create a coordinated and efficient approach to creating COVID-19 vaccines.

In a perspective published online May 11 by the magazine ScienceCorey and his co-authors, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. John Mascola, and Dr. Francis Collins, share their plan to bring industry, government, and academia together to meet this urgent need. Dr. Fauci is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the NIH. Dr. Mascola is the director of the NIAID Vaccine Research Center, and Dr. Collins is the director of the NIH.

We are experiencing an unprecedented series of events with a disease that has spread globally and infected more people in less time than any other infection in modern times. To overcome the challenges that lie ahead, each of us must contribute nothing less than our best. Research and development of COVID-19 vaccines will require creativity, cooperation and commitment to save as many lives as possible as soon as we can. “

Dr. Larry Corey, former president and director of Fred Hutch and professor in its Division of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases.

Throughout his career in developing vaccines, therapies, and immunotherapies, Corey has led the successful integration of academic institutions, biotech companies, and pharmaceutical companies in collaboration with NIH public funds.

“In addition to scientists and health experts, we need the help of industry and affected communities across the country to participate in large-scale trials of potential COVID vaccines,” he said.

The authors call for the harmonization of each step in the process, from the creation of a common oversight body and a set of shared criteria for evaluating ongoing vaccine studies, to transparency and data sharing, to bringing together all the resources of the private, public and philanthropic sectors to eventually expand manufacturing capacity and distribution chains for COVID-19 vaccines.

“We want to see multiple successful vaccines and vaccine platforms that meet the global need to immunize billions of adults, children, and restore the world’s economy and health,” Corey urged.