As I understand it, the family of coronaviruses includes those that cause the common cold. Since no one has ever managed to create a vaccine for colds, what makes us think it would be possible to create one for the new one, SARS-coV-2? Or if that is a stupid question, please enlighten me as to why there is no such thing as a cold vaccine.
There may be only two strains of COVID-19:
There are hundreds of cold viruses and it’s a waste of time and money to develop vaccines for just one let alone hundreds of non-life threatening viruses.
They made a SARS vaccine, and SARS is very closely related to COVID-19.
I’ll just add the higher level information: there are a few varieties of corona virus that cause cold like symptoms, but the vast majority of colds are caused by rhino viruses. Rhino viruses mutate rapidly and there are so many varieties that there is no way to easily create a vaccine.
A vaccine for COVID-19, which is caused by a specific coronavirus, is comparatively easier. There is one (possibly 2) virus and some data to start with in creating the virus.
IIRC, none of the SARS or MERS vaccines developed have been deemed safe or effective.
Part I of your inference is wrong and part II is a truism.
What we need is something like an antivirus system in our bodies that can download updates so that we don’t need a vaccine for each of the hundreds of viruses but just one database system that updates us (this is obviously beyond us at the moment, but we are halfway to being cybernetic anyways).
I see that I was wrong about them making a vaccine, but they got fairly far. They got effectiveness in vivo in mice. Once there aren’t any human patients to test it on, obviously you can’t prove effectiveness, and of course the obvious need for it goes away.
I guess we’ll find out now if it’s possible.
If you are talking about Texas genetic engineering company Greffex, they previously developed a MERS vaccine, and due to the similarities have already developed a COVID-19 vaccine. In an interview the CEO also mentioned similarities to SARS. However the testing protocol will likely take 9 months in the best possible case:
Prior Greffex work on MERS: https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/mers-greffex-does-it-again-2013-06-26
MERS and SARS vaccines were not fully developed due to lack of funding for the required test protocol: Scientists were close to a coronavirus vaccine years ago. Then the money dried up.
BioTech company Moderna Therapeutics to begin clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccine in April 2020: First coronavirus vaccine trial in the US is recruiting volunteers | Live Science
Using synthetic biology to expedite vaccine development: To develop a coronavirus vaccine, synthetic biologists try to outdo nature
Safety tradeoffs in expedited testing: Coronavirus vaccine clinical trial starting without usual animal data- STAT
There are currently at least 35 different COVID-19 vaccines under development by different pharmaceutical and genetic engineering companies: https://www.who.int/blueprint/priority-diseases/key-action/novel-coronavirus-landscape-ncov.pdf?ua=1
That’s exactly what we have. The update downloads are called “vaccines”.
One step closer to getting a vaccine, though. Research team has isolated the COVID-19 virus - Sunnybrook Research Institute
Never underestimate how motivated Canadians are to making sure hockey stays on… 
Okay, here’s what I wonder about Covid-19 vaccine:
I’ve seen it mentioned here-and-there that, as best we can tell so far, having this disease probably does not confer immunity against having it again.
How will a vaccine confer immunity where actually having the disease does not?
Cite? My daughter who was a long time copy editor for Nature claimed that despite considerable effort they did find a vaccine against SARS. I certainly hope she was wrong.
See https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/05/scientists-were-close-to-a-sars-coronavirus-vaccine-years-ago.html which is all I could find on the subject. Another site was behind a paywall and the free part ended before I could even see the conclusion in the abstract.
I don’t think this is accurate (or at least, there is no reason at this point to think it is accurate). What has happened is that a small number of people have tested positive for the virus, and in some cases developed symptoms, after testing negative and appearing to have recovered from the illness. It seems far more likely that these people either weren’t completely recovered after all, or that their immune systems weren’t functioning properly for some reason, than that having the disease in general does not confer immunity. (We aren’t, after all, seeing thousands of people getting it again after appearing to be cured, just a tiny handful of cases.)
A top Iranian cleric has opined that it would be permissible to use a vaccine developed by the Israelis if there are no other options.
No, there is no functioning SARS vaccine. A few had gotten as far as Phase I testing (the first phase that involves putting it in humans purely to see if it’s at all safe) but no further. There’s lots of stuff in the works but none are anywhere close.
The CDC guy said they figured one was 18 months away. In pharmaceutical terms, that is INCREDIBLY fast.
Parvovirus in dogs had a vaccine developed fast , I think in around 2 years.
As I posted above, there is at least one functioning COVID-19 vaccine today (from Greffex) but it must go through testing. There is also at least one antiviral drug for COVID-19 today (Remdesivir), and has been given to some patients on “compassionate use” basis. It is not approved for general use but it exists today and has been selectively administered.
Antiviral drugs might be available for more widespread use within a few months. Vaccines have a higher testing hurdle, since they are generally given to a wide population of healthy people. Thus any potential side effect is very serious, and going through the various stages of animal and human trials takes longer. By contrast antiviral drugs are given to a more limited population of ill people.
To avoid raising undue expectations, availability of COVID-19 vaccines is generally described as being 12-18 months away. However there are at least 35 different pharmaceutical and genetic engineering companies working on different vaccines. Some of them say it’s theoretically possible with expedited testing and approval to have one ready by around December. In terms of the projected COVID-19 spread (on the order of several months), that is possibly too late. OTOH if COVID-19 exhibits a summer decline then resurges in autumn/winter, theoretical vaccine availability in the December timeframe could be very beneficial.
I honestly believe a placebo would be just as effective as an actual vaccine at this point in terms of stopping the real problem: panic. Even yearly regular flu vaccines have low effective rates.