COVID-19 was first detected in December 2019 and quickly spread across the globe, infecting more than 75 million people and killing over 1.6 million by the end of the first year. As the disease resurged with a second wave, scientists and medical professionals around the world were in a tight race to develop an effective vaccine. In November 2020, pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca all announced their vaccines showed good results in trial stages. Both Pfizer and Moderna developed gene-based vaccines and both firms declared 95 per cent efficacy. Within weeks, Pfizer's vaccine was being shipped around the world. Canada gave its first vaccine injection on December 14, 2020.

From the Curio channel: News in Review.