The first human trial testing a potential vaccine to prevent COVID-19 began Monday, U.S. health officials confirmed.
Finding “a safe and effective vaccine” to prevent infection from the new coronavirus “is an urgent public health priority,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a statement Monday. “This Phase 1 study, launched in record speed, is an important first step toward achieving that goal.”
The National Institutes of Health, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, has been fast-tracking work with biotech company Moderna to develop a vaccine using the genetic sequence of the new coronavirus. The trial is taking place at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle, Washington, where COVID-19 cases have surged and authorities have banned mass gatherings. The early-stage, or phase 1, trial will test the vaccine on 45 males and non-pregnant females between the ages of 18 and 55, according to trial details on NIH’s website.
There are no proven therapies for the latest outbreak, which has killed at least 6,513 and sickened nearly 170,000 people worldwide since emerging from the Chinese city of Wuhan less than three months ago.