One of the most common reasons patients tell me they are reluctant to get the COVID-19 vaccine, especially at first, was how fast it was created. After all, we were told that it would be at least 18 months, and a vaccine might never have been successful. So what happened that helped get a vaccine available and distributed so fast? It wasn’t by skipping the safety and efficacy studies, experts say, but by the federal government’s financial support. Essentially, the government paid the companies to mass produce the vaccine while the phase III trials were still ongoing. That way, they would be available very quickly if the studies showed the vaccine worked and was safe.