The world has bet the farm on vaccines as the solution to the pandemic, but the trials are not focused on answering the questions many might assume they are.

As phase III trials of covid-19 vaccines reach their target enrolments, officials have been trying to project calm.

The US coronavirus czar Anthony Fauci and the Food and Drug Administration leadership have offered public assurances that established procedures will be followed.

Only a “safe and effective” vaccine will be approved, they say, and nine vaccine manufacturers issued a rare joint statement pledging not to prematurely seek regulatory review.

But what will it mean exactly when a vaccine is declared “effective”? To the public this seems fairly obvious.

The primary goal of a covid-19 vaccine is to keep people from getting very sick and dying.

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