seems like they would figure out a way to hurry this process up
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A Massachusetts biotech firm has completed a potential coronavirus vaccine and released it to federal health officials for human testing, according to officials and a new report.
Moderna, Inc., of Cambridge, announced on Monday that it released its first batch of mRNA-1273 to treat humans for the virus.
Vials have been shipped to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Md. The experimental vaccine will now be tested in humans, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The institute will begin a clinical trial of about 20 to 25 healthy volunteers by the end of April to determine whether two doses of the shot are safe and induce an immune response likely to safeguard participants from infection, NIAID director Anthony Fauci told the Journal.
Initial results could be released by July or August.
It has yet to be determined whether the Moderna batch will work, because its gene-based technology has yet to yield an approved human vaccine, Fauci said. Even if the first study is positive, the vaccine may not be readily available until next year, pending further studies and regulatory clearance, the doctor said.
But Fauci told the Journal that even if the spread of coronavirus lessens during the warmer months, it could come back in full force next winter like the flu.
