What the government must do to successfully administer a covid-19 vaccine

Ezekiel Emanuel and Topher Spiro explain how the United States can overcome the four major hurdles to successfully administering a COVID-19 vaccine.

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In the all-important search for a covid-19 vaccine, the news seems promising. Several candidates have been found that increase antibodies with tolerable side effects. Worldwide, six have reached the final stage of testing and are now being administered to thousands of subjects to assess the vaccines’ effectiveness and safety.

But once a vaccine is found, the process of packaging, distributing and administering it to achieve herd immunity also presents significant challenges. Many months will pass between proving a vaccine is effective and being able to offer injections to 300 million Americans. Given the country’s covid-19 response so far, it’s not surprising that we are already behind.

The above excerpt was originally published in The Washington Post. Click here to view the full article.

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Authors

Ezekiel Emanuel

Topher Spiro

Vice President, Health Policy; Senior Fellow

What the government must do to successfully administer a covid-19 vaccine