The Unusually Short History of the Coronavirus Vaccine

It feels like it’s been a long time coming but not as long as it could have been and not as long as it has before.

With the favorable vote now by a panel of experts for the Food and Drug Administration, the expected final okay is next and then in a few days, the first shipments of the first coronavirus vaccine will be on their way.

The timeline for the first polio vaccine was much different. It was 70 years ago, when San Diegan Jonas Salk came up with the first vaccine for polio, and while the testing began in 1952, it wasn’t until 1955 when the vaccine was being given to kids across the country.

So call it Operation Warp Speed or call it a miracle, having a vaccine ready for distribution in just one year from when the first coronavirus cases were reported in China is an answer to millions of prayers.

Of course it’s going to take months before everyone will be able to get the shot.

While health care workers and nursing home residents will be the first to get it, what happens next is not as clear and still being decided.Should it be everyone over 65 or everyone of any age with underlying medical conditions or adults from 20 to 50 who are the ones mostly spreading the virus.

And how do local and state governments ensure that some don’t find a way to cut in line and get a vaccine shot before they’re supposed to.

It’s a lot to figure out and it’s going to take a combined effort by thousands of government health officials to make it all happen.

But the news this week about the first COVID vaccine being approved just before Christmas is a huge gift and a real shot in the arm that we can all use!

(Photo Getty Images)