Editorial: Credit for Covid 19 coronavirus vaccine development must be shared

Several American states have been told to expect far fewer doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in its second week of distribution. Photo / AP

EDITORIAL:

When it comes to coronavirus vaccines, credit needs to be shared around.

A Covid-19 vaccine developed by German firm BioNTech was the first to cross the finish line.

Co-founders Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci - German doctor scientists of Turkish heritage - managed to develop it in less than a year.

The work is based on years of research into the messenger RNA approach.

And the development incorporated collaborations with pioneering Hungarian mRNA scientist Katalin Kariko, a BioNTech vice-president, and Kathrin Jansen, the German-born head of vaccine research and development at US pharma giant Pfizer.

With the help of Pfizer, the vaccine was tested by thousands of people in studies across six countries, assessed by regulators in various nations and first approved for use in Britain. Margaret Keenan, 90, was officially the first person to get the shot from doses manufactured at a plant in Belgium.

Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at University of East Anglia, told the Financial Times it was "the fastest development of a vaccine since Edward Jenner inoculated his gardener's son with cowpox in 1796".

The newest vaccine off the rank, from US company Moderna, uses the same biotechnology and is similarly the culmination of years of research into how an ability to control the body's immune system could result in a range of treatments for serious medical problems.

Moderna was a beneficiary of funding pumped into the development of vaccines by the US government under Operation Warp Speed. It has now gained full approval in the US.

Another vaccine candidate from the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca, has had some trial stumbles, but it shapes as being hugely important in the goal of vaccinating people everywhere because it is much cheaper and can be stored in normal fridges.

Trials are ongoing for a number of other options. China plans to begin vaccinations for frontline workers in healthcare, transport and at the border.

Leaders and some rich countries have tended to scrap over this scientific milestone the same way they fought to get medical protection supplies at inflated prices, battled over who was to blame for the virus spreading, and scrambled to hoard vaccine supplies.

Excess nationalism, competition, politics, selfishness and division have been problems all year.

Actual results have instead come from pooling talents, planning, putting funds where they were needed and just aiming for a goal.

Medical professionals have striven to save people through months of exhaustion and at great risk to themselves. Health spokespeople constantly urged people to do the right thing even when too many people overseas obviously weren't.

Essential workers kept life ticking over during lockdowns. People in countries around the world who complied with restrictions made sacrifices.

Scientific expertise has now swooped in to offer people hope in the form of vaccines and treatments and test kits. People from delivery drivers to pilots to volunteers are involved in the vaccine distribution chain.

The pandemic has exposed the world at its best and worst. The positive side can't blot out the stain of the bad but it can lessen some of the stress. Many people would like 2021 to be a respite and an uptick.