Zika has been infecting people for centuries and was first recognized in Uganda, nearly 70 years ago.
Despite its long history with humanity, we’ve seen the most progress for a vaccine over the past year.
This is due to a “gold rush” by pharmaceutical companies to find immunization. This race for a Zika solution started with an offer from the U.S. government to shift money to companies for vaccine research. Many other worldwide governments followed suit, offering financial programs to companies researching a Zika vaccine.
Vaccines usually take time to develop. Between research, development and trials, the process can take years and even decades.
Somewhat surprisingly though, Zika is proving ideal for vaccine research.