As of August 21, 2020, there were more than 165 potential vaccine candidates in development for the novel coronavirus. While some are still in preclinical stages, a handful are quickly making their way toward regulatory approval, meaning that pricing is starting to become an urgent reality.

The first safety trials in humans started as early as March, due to various expedited clinical development processes in place around the globe that promised to bring a vaccine to fruition as quickly as 12 to 18 months from the outbreak of the pandemic—an unprecedented time frame that was quick to spark a reaction from critics.

But now, as the reality of a commercialized SARS-CoV-2 vaccine becomes closer every day, countries the world are over are starting to ink deals with various front running companies in order to ensure supply for their citizens when the time comes.

Dedicating budget and resources to finding and accessing a COVID-19 vaccine means that there will have to be trade-offs in other areas of healthcare, which could trickle down for years to come, so it’s important that government bodies and organizations get the best deal possible.

Some companies have already proposed potential vaccine prices, throwing out ballpark figures of anything from around $4 to $72 for a dose, calling into question how much we actually end up paying for a vaccine.