Excited About AstraZeneca's Coronavirus Vaccine, Are Investors Immune to the Bigger Picture?

Back in mid-March, I remember sharing projections about coronavirus cases and potential deaths with family and friends. The most common response was "No way will it get too bad. They'll figure something out." As of today, more than 29 million cases of the virus have been reported worldwide, with more than 900,000 deaths . The good news? More than 50 vaccine candidates are in development, and public-private partnerships are allowing researchers to compress a decade's worth of work into a year.

In the race to bring a vaccine to market, AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) is near the front of the pack. The company has partnered with the University of Oxford to develop a viral vector -- or "Trojan Horse" -- vaccine. This approach introduces a weakened version of the virus into the body, triggering the immune system and creating a defense against future SARS-CoV-2 exposure. Efforts such as these should give us great hope that humanity will beat the virus -- but should investors in AstraZeneca have the same hope for outsized returns? 

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Source Fool.com