It’s summer 2020 and with Covid infections surging across America, the Trump administration’s ready to spend billions to get a vaccine fast.

For vaccine makers — who face the enormous costs of rapidly upscaling manufacturing and pushing their shots through large-scale human trials — the government funding is a lifeline.

But as the push to create vaccines hits warp speed, there’s a growing need to reassure the public that science, not politics, is in the driver’s seat.

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