During the development of a vaccine against the new coronavirus, the various phases of vaccine development were conducted in parallel. This saved time. Normally, the vaccine development phases are carried out sequentially.
Additional points that have helped in quickly developing a vaccine:
- The characteristics of the new coronavirus were quickly researched, with the findings being made generally accessible.
- Various existing resources in the fields of research and development were exclusively used for the production of a vaccine against the new coronavirus.
- Large and experienced vaccine producers had the opportunity to efficiently conduct studies in a short period of time.
- In recent years, intensive research has been conducted on vaccine technology using mRNA. During the course of this work, the technological basis for the rapid development and production of such vaccines was created.
The Swissmedic authorisation procedure has also been accelerated. Normally, the results of clinical phases I – III are reviewed collectively. For the authorisation of the vaccine against the coronavirus, individual studies were sent to Swissmedic and reviewed on an ongoing basis. However, the requirements with respect to the efficacy and safety of the vaccines during this process are identical to those applied in the usual authorisation procedure. Swissmedic only awards market authorisation for Switzerland if it is able to confirm the efficacy, safety and quality of the vaccine.