How DARPA seeded the ground for a rapid COVID-19 cure

SEANA SMITH: As Pfizer's vaccine starts to get distributed this week, and also as we prepare for Moderna potentially being next in line, we want to talk about-- or take a look, I should say, at the role that a US defense agency played in preparing the US to produce a vaccine very quickly. And for that, we want to bring in Regina Dugan. She's the former head of DARPA. And we also have our very own reporter Anjalee Khemlani joining the conversation.

Regina, let me just start with the fact that-- I guess explain to us how DARPA's investments over the last several years, going back even more than a decade or so, have helped accelerate the pace that we have seen for a COVID vaccine and have gotten us to this point that we've been able to get to so quickly.

REGINA DUGAN: Sure. Well, you should know that DARPA was formed after Sputnik in 1958 with the goal of preventing and creating strategic surprise. So big questions about risks and vulnerabilities and new capabilities that we might create were routine at DARPA.

And what I remember was a pivotal moment in 2010. So we were contemplating new programs, and a program manager by the name of Dan Wattendorf asked too big what ifs. He said, what if we have a global pandemic and it's a novel pathogen? That will be catastrophic. We can't wait the normal 3 to 10 years for a vaccine. And what if instead we could use mRNA to create a vaccine in days and weeks instead of the normal year-long timelines, 3 to 10 years?