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2020 in review: Coronavirus vaccines made in record time

By Catherine de Lange

16 December 2020

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Jacob King/PA Wire/PA Images

ON 10 January 2020, the first genetic sequence of the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was published by an international consortium of scientists, and the race for a vaccine began. It wasn’t a moment too soon, as the first death from infection with the virus was reported in Wuhan, China, the next day.

Remarkably, it has taken less than a year from this initial discovery to the development of several vaccines that have, in trials, far exceeded all expectations. At the time of going to press, a vaccine developed by US company Pfizer and its partner BioNTech had been approved for…

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