Most vaccines go through years of tests before they hit the market; 12 to 18 months would be extraordinarily fast. The coronavirus shots moving most rapidly are made with new technologies that have never proven useful in humans LONDON : As a young researcher in the late 1980s, Michael Kinch wanted to solve the biggest medical puzzle of the day: how to design an HIV vaccine.
But dozens of well-funded labs were attacking the problem, a solution seemed easily within reach, and Kinch moved on. More than 30 years and 30 million deaths later, there’s still no approved HIV vaccine -- a cautionary tale for anyone expecting a coronavirus shot within the next year, according to Kinch, a former drug developer who’s now associate vice chancellor at