A coronavirus vaccine begins clinical trials Monday — but it could be well over a year before you can get it

Hopefully the coronavirus vaccine is developed soon.
(Image credit: iStock)

A clinical trial testing a vaccine that could potentially protect against the novel coronavirus will begin Monday, The Associated Press reports. That will be the day that a human patient receives his or her dose of the experimental vaccine.

Vaccines take between a year and 18 months to be fully validated, public health officials told the AP. But "the traditional vaccine timeline is 15 to 20 years. That would not be acceptable here," Mark Feinberg, the president and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, recently told STAT. "When you hear predictions about it taking at best a year or a year and a half to have a vaccine available … there's no way to come close to those timelines unless we take new approaches."

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.