Swapping Covid 19 with (insert disease here)

[Curious layman]

Why is it not possible to come up with a cure or vaccine for something like Aids with the same speed as the Covid vaccine? 

If the world got together and just focused on one disease at a time, could we come find cures for them pretty quickly?

: "could we come find cures", no edit button 😕

[iNow]

2 hours ago, Curious layman said:

no edit button

It’s available via the drop-down on the top-right of the post... the one which looks like an ellipses

2 hours ago, Curious layman said:

Why is it not possible to come up with a cure or vaccine for something like Aids with the same speed as the Covid vaccine? 

If the world got together and just focused on one disease at a time, could we come find cures for them pretty quickly?

: "could we come find cures"

Maybe. Obviously with more focus and funding, things happen much more quickly. However, even with the newer technologies and use of things like mRNA, it’s a mistake to assert equivalence between things like SARS Cov-2 and HIV, or even flu and herpes. Covid doesn’t seem to mutate quite as rapidly as those others, and it also doesn’t seem to evade immune system response in the same way. In fact, the power of our immune system response to it is part of what makes people so sick for so long. 

I’ll defer to others if any of my points aren’t 100% precise, but my gist is directionally correct.

Edited February 13, 2021 by iNow