That public trust will be crucial to convincing a public that is impatient for a vaccine — and in some corners skeptical.
Among the impatient is US President Donald Trump, who has been accused by rival Joe Biden of "undermining public confidence" by regularly raising the possibility that a vaccine will be ready before November's election.
The Republican president is under pressure as the US toll continues to rise, nearing 6.5 million cases on Saturday with more than 193,000 deaths — by far the most in either measure in the world.
Biden also called Trump "reckless" for holding a rally in the Nevada city of Reno even after the venue had to be changed because the event breached local Covid-19 restrictions.
Read also: Amid a Pandemic, Trump and Biden’s Presidential Campaigns Vastly Differ
Television images of the rally Saturday showed a packed outdoors crowd, with few wearing face masks.
Some of those potentially skeptical about a vaccine meanwhile turned out in numerous German cities and Poland's capital Warsaw on Saturday, protesting against anti-coronavirus measures and often defying mask-wearing rules.
The movement is made up of a number of different groups, from self-declared "free thinkers" to anti-vaccine campaigners, conspiracy theorists, and far-right activists.
France, UAE milestones
There are signs of a resurgence of the virus in numerous countries that lifted many coronavirus measures after beating back the first wave of infections months ago.
France reported 10,000 new infections on Saturday, the country's highest daily number since launching wide-scale testing.
The milestone came a day after Prime Minister Jean Castex declined to announce any new major restrictions despite a "clear worsening" in the country's outbreak.
"We have to succeed in living with this virus, without returning to the idea of a generalized lockdown," Castex said.
Another country to hit a daily milestone on Saturday was the United Arab Emirates, which recorded more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases for the first time.
Read also: UAE, Indonesia Collaborate to Develop a Covid-19 Vaccine