Eighteen pharma companies, 14 vaccines, hundreds of nations, billions of people and millions of doses. This is the side story that has emerged out of a pandemic that has killed millions globally, crippled economies, forced the world indoors temporarily and changed the way humans go about their daily lives. The COVID-19 scourge that hit the world around 2019 has by now spawned businesses worth billions of dollars, with the hunt for effective vaccines bringing together governments, companies and the medical fraternity.