https://www.wired.com/story/everything-you-need-to-know-about-coronavirus-vaccines/

It’s been fewer than three months since a novel coronavirus emerged in China, causing fever, coughing, and, in severe cases, pneumonia. Since then, the disease known as Covid-19 has swept into 72 countries, infecting nearly 93,000 people and killing more than 3,000.

What makes the coronavirus scary enough to cause a worldwide run on face masks and lead countries to lock down whole megacities and ban travelers isn’t that it’s super deadly. So far, the World Health Organization estimates Covid-19’s fatality rate to be about 3.4 percent globally, which is still lower than other recent coronavirus outbreaks, including SARS and MERS. (That said, it appears to be more fatal than flu, which has a case fatality rate of around 0.1 percent.) And it’s very contagious. Still, most people who get Covid-19 will recover in a week or two, without need for hospitalization. What has people panicked is that it’s new.