Introduction

This article explores the comparison between how quickly humanity developed vaccines against deadly viruses such as COVID-19, compared with the centuries-long struggle to create one for cancer. From ancient Egyptian records of tumors to today’s revolutionary mRNA research, we’ll dive into why cancer remains so difficult to cure, what progress has been made, and what the future might hold.

COVID-19

December 2019, the world first heard about a new virus spreading through Wuhan, China. By January 2020, COVID-19 had already crossed borders, leaving panic, lockdowns, and fear amongst people. Yet what still amazed me was how quickly humanity fought back. By December 2020, less than a year later, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approved the first COVID-19 vaccine. Just days after, on 8 December, Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old grandmother, rolled up her sleeve at University Hospital in Coventry and became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech jab outside clinical trials.

Think about that for a second: in under twelve months, we went from “What is this virus?” to vaccinating millions of people across the globe. mRNA technology, which seemed like something futuristic, was suddenly part of everyday conversation. 

But then I find myself asking; Why is cancer, which has been known for thousands of years, still without a single universal vaccine? What is it about cancer that makes it so uncrackable, when the deadliest viruses have already been met with solutions?

Hippocrates, the “Father of Medicine” and Cancer

Cancer isn't a modern mystery. In fact, the earliest records of cancer are found in Ancient Egyptian scrolls, dating as far back as 1500 BC which describe cases of tumors, with treatments that were little more than cauterisation with fire. Later, the Greek physician Hippocrates, often called the “Father of Medicine,” named the disease karkinos, Greek for crab, because the hard spreading masses reminded him of the animal’s shape. Though for centuries cancer remained something people observed but could not explain.

Fast forward to the 19th and 20th centuries, and the picture started to change. Scientists discovered that cancer wasn’t some curse or punishment from the gods, but rather a disease rooted in our own cells. Abnormal growth, uncontrolled division—that was the real culprit. With this new understanding came new attempts at treatment: the use of X-rays for radiotherapy in the early 1900s, the development of chemotherapy after World War II, and, more recently, the rise of immunotherapy, where the body’s own defenses are trained to recognise and attack cancer cells.

And yet, despite centuries of knowledge and decades of medical breakthroughs, cancer still refuses to give up its secrets. Unlike a virus, it isn’t an external invader we can easily target. It’s our own cells turned against us. And that’s what makes the challenge so painfully different.

Virus and Cancer

When we look at viruses and cancer side by side, the difference is huge. A virus is an intruder. It sneaks into the body, hijacks our cells, and multiplies. The immune system recognises it as foreign, and vaccines train our defences to fight it off before it does too much damage. That’s why vaccines against things like smallpox, measles, or even COVID could be created so quickly once scientists figured out the target.

Cancer, though, is a completely different beast. It isn’t something that comes from outside—it’s our own cells gone rogue. They mutate, grow out of control, and in many cases the immune system doesn’t even notice, because to our body, those cells still look “normal.” Imagine trying to stop an enemy that wears the same uniform as your side. That’s why you can’t just whip up a simple cancer vaccine the way we did with COVID.

Cancer Vaccine

That doesn’t mean scientists haven’t tried. In fact, we already have a few vaccines that prevent cancers caused by viruses like the HPV vaccine, which protects against cervical cancer, or the Hepatitis B vaccine, which lowers the risk of liver cancer. There are also therapeutic vaccines, like Sipuleucel-T for prostate cancer, that try to boost the immune system once cancer has already developed. And then there’s immunotherapies like checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T cells that feel like the closest thing we have to a true “cancer vaccine” today. They’ve saved lives, but they’re far from a universal cure.

Why Cancer Is Still Hard to Cure

So why is cancer still so hard to crack? Part of the problem is that cancer isn’t one disease—it’s hundreds of different types, each with its own quirks and mutations. A treatment that works for one cancer might fail completely against another. Tumors are also incredibly adaptive; hit them with one drug, and they can evolve to resist it. On top of that, there are ethical limits in how fast scientists can test new therapies, unlike during COVID when the entire world was desperate for a solution and billions in funding were poured into research almost overnight.

Future and conclusion

Still the future isn’t hopeless. Right now, researchers are experimenting with personalized vaccine treatments designed around the unique mutations in each patient’s cancer. mRNA technology, the same breakthrough that gave us the COVID vaccine, is also being tested for cancer. We may not be there yet, but progress is happening faster than ever before. And maybe, just maybe, if the world can show the same urgency it did during the pandemic and globally invest into the research of cancer instead of Global crisis, one day we’ll finally have a vaccine.