Talent, teamwork speed vaccine effort

China’s speedy COVID-19 vaccine development is the result of drawing inspiration from past public health challenges, rapid but meticulous mobilization of talent and resources and rigorously upholding strict scientific and medical standards during every step of research, experts said. As of Oct 20, there were 44 vaccine candidates in human trials around the world, 15 of which were developed by China or with Chinese partners, according to the World Health Organization. China has four vaccine candidates in phase three clinical trials. These include three inactivated vaccines and an adenoviral vector-based, or AdV5, vaccine. Lu Shan, a member of China’s COVID-19 vaccine development task force, said the nation’s scientific community was swift to respond to the new public health threat, as evident from the Ministry of Science and Technology holding its first interdepartmental meeting on research on the pathogen on Jan 21. Many noted scientists, from those studying the origin of the virus to...