A harmonized and collaborative approach to the clinical testing, scale-up, and distribution of candidate vaccines to prevent COVID-19 is essential, scientific leaders write in a Policy Forum piece published online on May 11, 2020 in Science. The open-access article is titled “A Strategic Approach to COVID-19 Vaccine R&D.” As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, government, industry, and academia have introduced a variety of vaccine candidates. The authors note that more than one effective vaccine approach likely will be required to successfully protect the global community from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. They describe a strategic approach to research and development that would generate essential data for multiple vaccine candidates in parallel. NIH Director Francis S. Collins, MD,PhD; NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, MD; Lawrence Corey, MD, Professor in the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle; and John R. Mascola, MD, Director of NIAID’s Vaccine Research Center are the co-authors of the Policy Forum article in Science. The open-access article discusses diverse vaccine candidates and key considerations for development, including the characteristics of various vaccine platforms in terms of prior commercial experience, scalability, and the types of immune responses generated. It also emphasizes that no single vaccine or vaccine platform is likely to meet the global need, highlighting the need for a coordinated strategic approach to vaccine development. The authors stress that researchers need to learn more about what constitutes a durable protective immune response against COVID-19.Login Or Register To Read Full Story