Ground-breaking new medical defences against COVID-19 were developed and built in record time when the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 emerged and spread rapidly around the world. Within just 326 days, the first safe and effective vaccines were being rolled out to begin to reduce cases of severe disease and bring down COVID-19 death rates. The pace of this development and delivery was unprecedented. Yet it was still not fast enough to prevent COVID-19 from exploding into a deadly global pandemic.
To prevent future outbreaks from realising their pandemic potential, the world needs to up the pace in the race against new and re-emerging viruses. If it takes just 100 days to make a safe and effective vaccine against any viral pandemic threat, we could potentially contain outbreaks before they spiral out of control. This goal is known as the 100 Days Mission. It is embraced by leaders of the G7 and G20, and is widely recognised as an ambitious global collaborative effort.
