A new opinion article published by Science today advocates for a “harmonized and collaborative approach to the clinical testing, scale-up and distribution of candidate vaccines to prevent COVID-19. ” The piece was penned by NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins, NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Lawrence Corey, a vaccine expert at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Dr. John R. Mascola, of the NIAID’s Vaccine Research Center. 

The authors suggest more than one effective vaccine approach will likely be required to successfully protect the global community from SARS-CoV-2. Their article also describes a strategic approach aimed at generating the data required to develop multiple vaccine candidates in parallel.

The writers emphasize developing COVID-19 vaccines will require unprecedented cooperation from governments, academic institutions, industry and global philanthropic partners. The Science article also repeatedly refers to the importance of animal studies in developing effective COVID-19 vaccines. It can be found at this link.