QUICK READ: An accelerated timeline for a COVID-19 vaccine is unrealistic as wide-scale testing needs to be implemented in order to ensure the vaccine is safe and effective.

Imagine people lined up for a COVID-19 vaccine at the end of this year only to find out next year that patients are reporting some severe side effects. It would give the anti-vaxxers crowd a platform to preach and do more to set back medicine which has become more political during this administration.

I have to laugh when I read how manufacturers are gearing up to produce millions of vaccine doses because it’s like building a factory for antigravity cars.

There is so much we don’t understand about this virus yet so many companies are working on a vaccine. The urgency is because of two reasons. First, the public is used to instant gratification and second, the current administration wants to remain in power. An economy on the rebound would help their cause even though their late response has surely contributed to the high death counts if any other country.

Per The NY Times “A vaccine would be the ultimate weapon against the coronavirus and the best route back to normal life. The grim truth behind this rosy forecast is that a vaccine probably won’t arrive any time soon. Clinical trials almost never succeed. We’ve never released a coronavirus vaccine for humans before. Our record for developing an entirely new vaccine is at least four years — more time than the public or the economy can tolerate social-distancing orders.

Despite the unprecedented push for a vaccine, researchers caution that less than 10 percent of drugs that enter clinical trials are ever approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Should we abandon all hope? Of course not but any politician who promises as a vaccine by the end of the year is talking out of his ass. Drug companies, of course, are going to issue press talking points to inflate their stock but my guess is we’re going to have to learn a lot more about this virus while drug development continues.

If the FDA approves a vaccine this year people would be warned to ask “how safe is it?” and “how many people was it tested on?” before taking a promise of protection without due diligence.