New Delhi (NVI): The United States has begun the first human trial of coronavirus vaccine as four patients have received the dose at Kaiser Permanente research facility in Seattle, Washington, reports in foreign media said.
In a press conference at White House yesterday, US President Donald Trump told reporters that this is one of the fastest vaccines development launches in history.
“I’m pleased to report today that a vaccine candidate has begun the phase one clinical trial. This is one of the fastest vaccine development launches in history. Not even close. We’re also racing to develop antiviral therapies and other treatments.”
Trump said efforts to develop medications to treat the novel coronavirus were also moving fast.
“We’re also racing to develop antiviral therapies and other treatments. And we’ve had some promising results — early results, but promising — to reduce the severity and the duration of the symptoms,” he said.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in the US, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is funding the trial. The open-label trial will enrol 45 healthy adult volunteers aged 18 to 55 years over approximately six weeks.
The vaccine is called mRNA-1273 and was developed by the NIAID scientists and their collaborators at the biotechnology company Moderna, Inc., based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
