Even More Good News On The Vaccine Front
07/27/2020
The NIH just announced that a Phase 3 clinical trial of a CoV-2 RNA vaccine was launched today. The highly novel vaccine, developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the biotech company, Moderna, uses no virus vehicle, just a segment of the CoV-2 RNA genome. This is a highly novel approach since no RNA vaccine has been developed to any pathogen. If successful, it will revolutionize vaccinology by eliminating any infectious vehicle that could cause side effects. It also will dramatically speed novel vaccine development since all you need is a genetic sequence of the pathogen, after which it is simple to produce in any lab. It is the second RNA vaccine under development that will soon enter phase 3 testing. The other vaccine is being developed by the pharma giant Pfizer and the German biotech company, BioNTech, and is expected to also enter phase 3 trials in a few days.
Since about 30,000 volunteers are needed for this trial, it is being conducted at 89 partner sites around the US, under the oversight of the The NIH Coronavirus Prevention Network (CoVPN). Adults who are interested in joining this study can visit www.coronaviruspreventionnetwork.org(link is external) or visit ClinicalTrials.gov and search identifier NCT04470427 to find a study center to volunteer.
Seeing how the virus continues to spread in most states, even accelerating its spread in many states, makes it increasingly possible that an effective vaccine will be available by the end of the year. Even if that happens, we will still need more time to understand other variables, such as how long the immunity lasts, and how well people over 60 are protected.
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