As the U.S. races to vaccinate its population, the development of better COVID-19 vaccines has already begun. (Government Pharmaceutical Organization of Thailand via Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)
The three COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States are safe and effective and were made in record time.
But they aren't ideal.
An ideal vaccine — besides being safe and effective — would have a few other desirable characteristics, says Deborah Fuller, a vaccine researcher at the University of Washington.
Such a vaccine would be "administered in a single shot, be room temperature stable, work in all demographics and, even pushed beyond that, ideally be self-administered," she says.