With Wuhan virus genetic code in hand, scientists begin work on a vaccine

FILE PHOTO: A traveler wearing a mask arrives on a direct flight from China, after a spokesman from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said a traveler from China had been the first person in the United States to be diagnosed with the Wuhan coronavirus, at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington, U.S. January 23, 2020. REUTERS/David Ryder

CHICAGO/LONDON (Reuters) - When a newly organised vaccine research group at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) met for the first time this week, its members had expected to be able to ease into their work. But their mandate is to conduct human trials for emerging health threats - and their first assignment came at shocking speed.

In just three months time, they likely will be testing the first of a number of potential experimental vaccines against the new SARS-like coronavirus that is spreading in China and beyond.