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Historically, it has taken researchers many years, decades even, to study a specific disease enough to develop an effective vaccine. This highlights the scale of the task faced by those working to find solutions to the current crisis, as COVID-19 has only been known for a matter of months.
Having a readily available COVID-19 vaccine at any time in the near future would thus constitute an extraordinary feat of human ingenuity, since it represents researchers developing a vaccine in record time following the discovery of this virus.
Among the general public, there seems to exist an expectation that the chances of a vaccine being developed rapidly are fairly high.
In the past two decades, there have been two notable previous outbreaks caused by coronaviruses, SARS and MERS.
In any case, alongside such challenges, as well as the usual time process involved in the development of vaccines, there is certainly no guarantee that a viable solution will be found within the coming months or even years.
So as not to impede research into solutions for this unprecedented crisis, it is vital that governments around the world allow competition and innovation. It would be a calamity should any government insist on maintaining counterproductive regulations that are detrimental to progress in the fields of science and medicine.
There are many areas in which private sector initiatives could contribute greatly towards global efforts to find long-term medical solutions.
Although some areas may be worse affected than others, in an increasingly interconnected world, the crisis surrounding COVID-19 is felt across all societies.
As such, it would be disastrous for national governments to take a more insular approach to finding solutions and recovering from the crisis.
For a problem of such magnitude as this virus, it is, at the very least, in the economic interest of every country to bring the pandemic under control across the entire world, ideally eradicating it completely.
Transparency and cooperation is a key element in any global crisis. The lack thereof, as seen in the response by the Chinese Communist Party during the crucial early stages, can lead to devastating consequences.
Finally, it is important to remember that, regardless of whether a vaccine becomes available in the coming months, maintaining lockdowns over extended periods of time would lead to a far worse situation, which would have an exorbitant human cost. Individuals and businesses must be allowed to take initiative in order to increase the chances of solutions being found.
To read more about COVID-19 and the government’s impact on our personal and economic freedom, check out our pandemics page by clicking on the button below.