On January 10, 2020, Chinese scientists posted online the genetic sequence of a then-unidentified virus isolated from 41 hospitalized patients in Wuhan. Two days later a team of scientists at Moderna had programmed the RNA sequences that became the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine targeted at that virus. Forty days after that, Moderna shipped the first box of vials to begin tests of the new vaccine. A team at BioNTech used the same techniques to program their own vaccine just a day or two after the Moderna scientists. BioNTech partnered with Pfizer and started testing what we know today as the...