9 reasons you can be optimistic that a vaccine for COVID-19 will be widely available in 2021

  As fall approaches rapidly, many are wondering if the race for a vaccine will bear fruit as early as January 2021.

  I am a physician-scientist and infectious diseases specialist at the University of Virginia, where I care for patients and conduct research into COVID-19. I am occasionally asked how I can be sure that researchers will develop a successful vaccine to prevent COVID-19. After all, we still don’t have one for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

  Here is where the current research stands, where I think we will be in five months, and why you can be optimistic about the delivery of a COVID-19 vaccine.