Until very recently, the notion that the world could quickly develop and mass produce a vaccine for some new infectious disease within a matter of months seemed impossible.

Of course, these aren't normal times. After unveiling the adenovirus-vector vaccine developed by the Gameleya Institute, Russian President Putin claimed that the vaccine was tested first on a small group of willing participants, including one of his own adult daughters. The implication was that traditional standards of medical ethics don't always apply during extreme situations.

With vaccine news being the dominant story on Thursday, as investors around the world watched as the administration pushed the states to prepare to start distributing vaccine doses on an emergency basis come Nov. 1. Dr. Fauci later poured cold water on the administration's enthusiasm, telling CNN that it's unlikely a vaccine would be widely available before the end of the year. This, even after the CEO of Pfizer, which is partnering with German company BioNTech to produce what has become one of the leading vaccine candidates, claimed that the world will know whether their vaccine works in the coming weeks, as enrollment for its Phase 3 trials has nearly finished.