The COVID-19 pandemic emerged in China in 2019 and spread to the rest of the world in early 2020.

Since then, the virus has caused more than 6.8 million deaths.

Enforcing the urgency and severity of COVID-19 biopharmaceutical companies too rapidly develop a vaccine to counter the threat. Moderna, Inc. MRNA and BioNTech SE BNTXa small German biopharmaceutical company that has entered into a partnership with a US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Inc. PFEused mRNA technology, a genetic material present in the viral protein, to stimulate immunity against the virus. Johnson&Johnson JNJ, AstraZeneca plc AZN and Novavax, Inc. NVAX conducted their own COVID-19 vaccine research.

See also: The best biotech stocks right now

WHO wakes up to the threat: As COVID-19 spread, the Geneva-based World Health Organization was forced to act. On January 30, 2020, WHO Director-General Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern”.

Big Pharma, Biotechs are on the move: Vaccine development has a long gestation period. It typically takes five to 10 years to develop a vaccine using traditional technology, which uses live viruses in their weakened form.

Shakeout became inevitable: The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, later called Comirnaty, was the first to receive emergency use approval in December 2020 after just 11 months of development. modern was the next to get the FDA green light. Novavax, which started strong, was hit with development delays. J&J received approval for its vaccine, but reports of side effects prompted the FDA to limit and suspend use of the vaccine. AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which it developed in collaboration with Oxford University, was successful in developing and underdeveloped countries but didn’t make it to the US

Returns from COVID vaccine stocks: COVID-19 vaccine stocks soared in 2020 amid the development schedule as investors began to price in massive returns from investing in vaccine research. Later, companies with failed programs saw their…