‘I haven’t even told my wife’: Inside the frantic and secretive sprint to name the Covid-19 vaccines

The United States has a Covid-19 vaccine, the result of science carried out at breakneck speed. Now, whether the country knows it or not, it’s awaiting the results of another whirlwind effort: one to come up with brand names for products that will literally change the world.

Naming a vaccine is almost always a matter of threading semantic needles, branding experts said, where the goal is to evoke positive vibes without irking the world’s ever more conservative regulatory bodies. And it takes time.