Don't hold your breath for a coronavirus vaccine

Welcome to Dispensed Daily, your daily dose of healthcare news from Business Insider's healthcare editor Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer and the healthcare team. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday.

Hello,

Today in healthcare news: coronavirus shots are still a long ways off, these top VCs are going all in on digital health, and the RNC's covert mask purchasing.

I'm your host of today's Dispensed Daily, Blake Dodge. I joined the healthcare team on March 16 and cover health-tech and coronavirus testing.

Don't hold your breath for a coronavirus vaccine. Here are the 7 biggest challenges we still need to overcome.

• There are 24 coronavirus vaccine candidates in human trials. People are hopeful one could be ready by early 2021.
• But there are 7 key obstacles to creating a successful vaccine.
• They range from concerns over basic safety to early indications that coronavirus antibodies don't last very long.

Read the full story from Andrew Dunn and Aylin Woodward here>>

Investors just poured $5.8 billion into startups in the hottest part of healthcare. Here are the 5 top venture capital firms making the most digital-health bets.

• Digital health startups are filling gaps in care caused by coronavirus outbreaks.
• Venture capital firms are fueling the fire, some more than others, per a new report by CB Insights.
• The top 5 most-active firms made these 30 bets in the last quarter, from drug research to mental health.

Read the full story from Blake Dodge here>>

Republican Party officials hid COVID-19 mask purchases by labeling them 'building maintenance' in federal disclosures

• The Republican National Committee said it spent $14,000 on "building maintenance" in federal filings.
• In reality, it was a purchase of face masks.
• The RNC said generalizing descriptions like that are normal, but that's not entirely true.

Read the full story from Dave Levinthal here>>

More stories we're reading:

• CDC finds nearly 20% of young, healthy coronavirus patients hadn't recovered after 2 to 3 weeks, showing infection can cause 'prolonged illness' (Business Insider)
• Some coronavirus patients are going on month three with horrible symptoms (The Wall Street Journal)
• POWER PLAYERS: 23 top executives and product leaders inside Google who are shaping the future of the company (Business Insider)
• Microsoft just surpassed $50 billion in annual commercial cloud revenue. Here are 24 of the most important executives leading Microsoft's cloud business as it takes on Amazon Web Services. (Business Insider)
• Doctors are posting bikini selfies in protest of a study that said it is 'unprofessional' for female medics to share bikini photos online (Insider)

This was my first newsletter. How did I do? What are we missing? You can find me at bdodge@businessinsider.com.

Subscribe to this daily email here.

- Blake