Summary
In 2017, three leading vaccine researchers submitted a grant application with an ambitious goal: Develop a single vaccine against all beta-coronaviruses – the infamous viral group known at the time for the deadly drugs of severe acute respiratory syndrome and respiratory syndrome in the Middle East, as well as various causes of colds and many bat viruses. Award judges from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have given the proposal a low priority, apparently not convinced that the viruses pose a global threat. SARS-CoV-2, NIAID and other funders have now undergone a major heart change as the world faces three million deaths due to the latest coronavirus. As the threat of another coronavirus pandemic now seems very real, more than two dozen “pancoronavirus” vaccination projects are underway, using approaches ranging from new nanocasts with virus particles to cocktails of inactivated viruses.