Quote:
Originally Posted by J1ceasar
6 months is fantastic but concider that the common Chinese flu has vaccines created every year in not much more time.
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The annual flu vaccine is a generic, based on the previous year's, and has mixed results depending on how close it matches the actual virus. Since the flu shot varies little from the previous year's version, it is largely assumed that it will be safe to use.
That for Coronavirus has had to be designed from scratch. Not only does this take longer, but more testing is needed for safety before it can be generally released for use.
The major part of the "delay" in releasing drugs is the safety testing, and this is a trade-off between the risks and the benefits. Since the benefits of an effective Coronavirus vaccine are huge, it is considered worthwhile to take a bigger risk that there might be more adverse effects to its use, rather than spending years reducing this risk (and losing the benefits).