Watsupptoday desk

Millions of dollars and hundreds of hours of researchers� time have been invested in the hunt for a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.

It�s paying off � experts say we could see the first vaccines approved by the end of 2020, but there�s still a lot of questions that need to be answered before you roll up your sleeve. These include how well it works, which shot we use, and who gets first crack at the new vaccine.

Where research stands
In late July, some manufacturers announced promising early results. A vaccine candidate developed by researchers at Oxford University in the U.K. appeared to cause an immune response with minimal side effects. A joint Canadian and Chinese project also announced that they were moving forward with further testing, after seeing some success.

According to the World Health Organization, there are currently 165 vaccine candidates being studied worldwide. Five of those are in Stage 3 clinical trials � typically the last stage, after which the vaccine could be approved if it shows positive results.

One of those, by the company Moderna, is now being tested in thousands of people across the U.S., in a trial that started Monday.

Manufacturers were able to move so quickly in part because they�re building upon other vaccines, he said. �It�s not quite plug-and-play,� he said, but manufacturers were able to take existing vaccines and swap out a few pieces to try to match them to the SARS-CoV-2 virus rather than starting from scratch.