Pfizer, in partnership with German pharmaceutical company BioNTech, became the latest company to launch human trials for a potential coronavirus vaccine Monday.
If all goes well, the companies hope their COVID-19 vaccine could be ready for emergency use in September, in time for what many predict will be a period of rejuvenated viral transmission (if it subsides at all in the U.S. between now and then). The normal caveats apply here — the quest for a vaccine is moving along at a pace never before seen, which means that some essential steps may be purposefully skipped in the process, and many experts believe that getting a vaccine in even 18 months, let alone later this year, is overly optimistic.
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