How successful have we been with vaccine development for various pandemics?
INFOGRAPHIC SPECIAL — VACCINE DEVELOPMENT

How successful have we been with vaccine development for various pandemics?

Comparing the vaccine development timelines since the earlier twentieth century

Major technological advancements made in the field of Medicine has led to a significant increase in average life expectancy. However, it is a somewhat perplexing fact for many as to why we have not been able to develop a vaccine for diseases like AIDS for 40 years, whereas multiple COVID-19 vaccinations have already been rolled out in record time. No wonder the recently developed vaccines are being closely scrutinized by the experts for their safety & efficacy.

For comparison purposes, It took approximately 25 years to develop a vaccine for the Spanish Flu which killed between 40–50 million people. Similarly, the first Ebola vaccine — an effort that took 43 years since the discovery of the virus. And we are still waiting for a cure for AIDS and yet we have an answer

Previous vaccines have saved countless lives — 10 million deaths between 2010 and 2015 alone have been prevented, according to the data from the World Health Organization. And we are hoping the case is the same for COVID-19. The infographic above looks at the timeframes for vaccine development for every pandemic since the turn of the 20th century. It also highlights the major steps involved in the development of individual vaccines.

Talking about COVID-19 vaccines, nearly 7.25 billion doses have been pre-purchased by countries and organizations around the globe — as many countries scramble to innoculate their populations. The second infographic below highlights that high & middle-income countries have hogged the purchasing process by ordering dosages according to their purchasing power.

While the hope is that a global vaccine initiative like the COVAX can bring some equality in the vaccine distribution among high-income and low-income countries, it is going to be a long road ahead towards pre-COVID normalcy. In the meantime, here is the link for the COVID-19 vaccine tracker, if you want to follow the development process for various endeavors being undertaken right now.

Image Credit: Visual Capitalist

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['Faisal Khan']
['Health', 'Future', 'Technology', 'Innovation', 'Science']