Against the unprecedented backdrop of scientists around the world taking careful steps to move more than 165 vaccine candidates through clinical trials at a time of urgent global need, researchers are sounding the warning bell. Their message: don't cut corners on clinical trials.

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Russia made headlines this week with claims it had approved an early COVID-19 vaccine, despite it being tested in fewer than 100 people. North American researchers have also proposed and then walked back on unorthodox modifications to Phase III trials with the goal of accelerating vaccine delivery.

"The idea of skipping or reducing the Phase III testing period will re-emerge again and again during the fall because of the extraordinary pressure for a vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus," says immunologist Adam MacNeil, Associate Professor of Health Sciences at Brock University.