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In 2020 editor-in-chief (Andrew Malekoff) issued a special call for papers for group work stories on pandemic 2020. Among the 28 stories accepted for the series there were 16 from India, 9 from the United States, 2 from Canada and 1 from Israel. General submissions from the U.S., Canada and Israel were typical for the journal. Atypical are submissions from India. Rather than publish the stories in one special issue of the Journal, he decided to spread them out over several issues through 2022. In the course of organizing the special series (with a December 2021 deadline) he continued communication with a few of the authors from India, with particular interest and concern in the deteriorating situation as 2021 unfolded. Although the present commentary is not about group work per se, it is an update by Ajay Saini, Nancy and Andrew Malekoff on the current state of affairs in India, with some contrast to the situation in the U.S., that offers continuing context for the stories in the series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coronavirus 19 (COVID-19) pandemic triggered a simultaneous global demand for preventative vaccines, which quickly became a high priority among governments as well as academia and the pharmaceutical industry. Within less than a year after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, vaccines had received emergency approvals and vaccination campaigns were initiated. We discuss the several factors that led to the unprecedented, accelerated development and approval of COVID-19 vaccines, which includes optimization of processes by regulatory authorities, redesign of sequential development processes, learnings from previous pandemics, and prior development of novel vaccine platforms. Despite unanticipated and complex challenges presented by real-time vaccine development in the context of the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent ever-changing landscape of public health measures and recommendations, important milestones were reached within extraordinarily short periods and, following roll-out to billions worldwide, the approved vaccines have proven to be well tolerated and effective. Whilst this is an exceptional feat and an example of what can be achieved with collaboration and innovation, there are lessons that can still be learned, including the need for further harmonization between regulatory authorities, modes to react to the pandemic's ever-evolving challenges, and ensuring equitable vaccine access among low-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]