Covid vaccine is first step. It'll take years to manufacture and distribute

One estimate puts global vaccine production capacity at up to 6.4 billion doses per year, though this is based on single-dose influenza vaccines.

The world is hoping a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine will soon become available. So far, more than 160 candidate vaccines are in development.

Some 31 of these have entered human clinical trials. One of them is Russia’s “Sputnik V”, which was granted approval by the country’s health ministry last week. But the World Health Organisation (WHO) and a large number of international experts have urged Russia to conduct more testing to ensure the vaccine’s safety before using it.

But even if this candidate and others are proven