Q: How did funding affect the development process and timeline?
The vast up-front federal funding was one of the major factors which allowed us to be able to develop COVID-19 vaccines in such a remarkably short time. Normally, limited funding is made available to advance a vaccine through small steps in development and this timeline typically is 10-20 years long to go through each of these steps. The other major factor in facilitating the remarkably short timeline was the many decades of scientific investment already conducted in the vaccine technologies (mRNA, virus-vectoring, nanoparticles, and others) which allowed us to make these vaccines rapidly.
Response by E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, UM Baltimore, John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor, Dean, University of Maryland School of Medicine
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Wilbur H. Chen, MD, MS, FACP, FISDA, Professor of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicinem Chief, Adult Clinical Studies section, Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD), Director, UMB Travel Medicine Practice