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  • BBC Science Focus Magazine

    THE RACE TO CREATE A VACCINE

    May 06, 2020 6 minutes
    by ANDY RIDGWAY

    What were you doing on 10 January 2020? It was a Friday, so chances are you were arranging to meet up with friends. The days of completely unrestricted normality seem a distant memory. But it’s the date that the race to create a coronavirus vaccine began.

    That day, the Chinese government released the genetic sequence of the virus – SARS-CoV-2 – responsible for the pandemic. It enabled researchers around the world to start building bits of the virus in their labs, with the aim of developing a vaccine that will make us immune.

    There are around 35 research teams around the world now working on a vaccine. Millions of pounds are being pumped into vaccine development by organisations and wealthy individuals, including Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, who has pledged to build factories for the seven (as yet unannounced) leading candidates. Meanwhile, a handful of teams, including US biotech businesses Novavax and Moderna, and a team at the University of Oxford, are supported by a foundation called the

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