The way the Covid-19 crisis ends is with vaccines — not a vaccine.

Some of us might end up getting a shot of a more traditional vaccine, while others might get vaccines based on emerging technologies http://trib.al/bdJDtjC 

Emerging vaccines use synthetic versions of the virus’s genetic code.

Moderna’s vaccine had promising human trials
Oxford University’s vaccine worked in monkeys

Both made headlines, though critics warn the evidence is preliminary http://trib.al/bdJDtjC 

Scientists have created more than 70 vaccine candidates so far, including Merck's.

“If we end up with two, three, or four vaccines, that’s good, since we have seven billion people,” says Harvard vaccine researcher Dan Barouch http://trib.al/bdJDtjC 

In the end, some vaccines might be extremely effective but harder to scale; others the opposite.

Even a less-effective vaccine might provide herd immunity. Other vaccines might be more appropriate for health care workers, who risk exposure on the job http://trib.al/bdJDtjC 

There are good reasons for scientists to be optimistic.

“For Covid-19, it’s clear most humans who get infected recover … that alone shows the human immune system can eliminate the virus,” he says. That makes it a much easier target than, say, HIV http://trib.al/bdJDtjC 

So how do vaccines work? All vaccines have to provide a danger signal to “prime” the immune system into acting against an invader.

Next, the vaccine has to mimic the invader in order to get the body to create antibodies that target the enemy http://trib.al/bdJDtjC 

Vaccine designers using genetic material (DNA or RNA, the single-stranded cousin of DNA) have to stimulate the immune system enough to generate those antibodies, but not so much that the immune system destroys the vaccine before it can complete its mission http://trib.al/bdJDtjC 

The excitement surrounding Moderna’s RNA-based vaccine followed the release of data from a trial that involved 45 humans.

Out of eight volunteers, all produced antibodies with the desired “neutralizing” property needed to attack the virus in the future http://trib.al/bdJDtjC 

A similar concept is behind DNA vaccines. DNA vaccines are already in early human trials, including candidates developed by:

Oxford University
Johnson & Johnson
CanSino Biologics
http://trib.al/bdJDtjC 

All the novel vaccines work through the same well-established scientific principles, and are very likely to be safe.

Still, it’s well-known that vaccines don’t work as well in the elderly and immunocompromised http://trib.al/bdJDtjC 

Imperfect vaccines could still eradicate the virus through herd immunity but only if the bulk of the population gets vaccinated.

Once the technical hurdles are overcome, there will be social hurdles — there's already anti-vaxxer resistance http://trib.al/bdJDtjC 

The competitive nature of science has changed. Everyone understands how much is at stake in terms of lives and economic damage.

Right now, we need all the ideas we can get http://trib.al/bdJDtjC 

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