If China should be first to produce a successful vaccine against the coronavirus, U.S. prestige is likely to suffer a similar blow. The stakes in finding a vaccine against the coronavirus couldn’t be higher. Should Beijing produce the first vaccine, the U.S. “will worry that China would weaponize the vaccine in geopolitical terms,” he said. Both the U.S. and China have played down talk of competition, with Chinese officials in particular stressing the common nature of the threat from Covid-19. No vaccine has ever been made on the kinds of schedules being targeted, counted in months rather than years.

Source: Hindustan Times May 08, 2020 10:00 UTC