Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are warning that “another battle” with the coronavirus will likely occur when winter returns.

“We’re going to have another battle with it upfront and aggressively next winter,” says CDC director Robert Redfield. “This is why it is so important we take the time right now to improve our testing capacity, expand our public health capacity to do early case recognition, contact tracing and isolation.”

The news comes as the National Institutes of Health says a vaccine is still a year away from widespread distribution. However, it may be available sooner for at-risk medical professionals, says NIH scientist Kizzmekia Corbett. “We’re targeting fall for the emergency use, so that would be for healthcare workers and people who might be in constant contact and risk of being exposed over and over,” Corbett says.

If a vaccine can be ready in the fall for medical professionals, why can’t it also be available to everyone else? Should fast-tracking the development of a vaccine be top priority right now?