全球领先疫苗,39支疫苗进入3期实验,10月13日,德国法国放弃两款mRNA疫苗,转为研发新一代疫苗和加强剂。中国两款疫苗进入第三期试验。

8 min ago
Moderna chief medical officer says chances of Covid-10 vaccine working is "pretty good"
From CNN's Leinz Vales


Moderna Therapeutics headquarters is seen here in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Moderna Therapeutics headquarters is seen here in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Blake Nissen/The Boston Globe /Getty Images

Moderna's chief medical officer said Wednesday that he's "cautiously optimistic" about the biotechnology company's Covid-19 vaccine developed in partnership with the National Institutes of Health.
“We believe that the chances of this working are pretty good," said Dr. Tal Zaks, chief medical officer for Moderna. "And the reasons are that the ability to neutralize antibodies to mediate the right immune response I think has been demonstrated for other similar viruses and in preclinical models."
The results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Tuesday, showed that the vaccine worked to trigger an immune response with mild side effects — fatigue, chills, headache, muscle pain, pain at the injection site — becoming the first US vaccine candidate to publish results in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

Zaks insisted that an independent body of experts will continue to monitor the study as it enters a large phase three trial — the final trial stage before regulators consider whether to make the vaccine available.
"I feel very confident you're not going to have to trust me on this, there will be the right appropriated body of experts that will look at the data as it emerges to ascertain indeed the benefit risk profile warrants deployment," Zaks said.
 
- The federal government is ordering more than 75 million syringes, alcohol swabs and bandages so it can inoculate Canadians as soon as a COVID-19 vaccine is ready.

Procurement Minister Anita Anand says Ottawa intends to stockpile enough vaccine supplies to give at least two doses to every Canadian whenever a vaccine is available.

There are almost two dozen vaccines in clinical trials around the world and at least 140 more in earlier stages of development, but most experts predict it will be well into 2021 before the first vaccines could be ready for wide use.



Quebec biopharmaceutical company Medicago began Canada's first human COVID-19 vaccine trials July 13 and expects to have the initial results of its tests on 180 people by early fall.

Still, Anand says Canada wants to be ready and so has ordered 75.2 million each of syringes, alcohol swabs, bandages, and gauze pads, and 250,000 needle-disposal containers to be delivered no later than the end of October.

The contracts for the syringes are already in place but bids for the other supplies opened last week and will be accepted until the end of July.

Ottawa is also looking to transition its multibillion-dollar medical supplies purchase program from pandemic panic buying to longer-term planning. It is seeking a private company to take over the logistics of ordering, receiving, storing and distributing millions of face masks, respirators, surgical gowns and other personal protective equipment every month.

A request for bids for a logistics co-ordinator was posted July 16. The government wants a supplier that can procure or provide temperature-controlled warehouse space near Toronto and Hamilton airports, another near Montreal and a third in either British Columbia or Alberta. The winning bidder needs to be able to handle 27,000 pallets of supplies each month, as well as 220 shipping containers from cargo ships, and another 400 cases of other goods.

The frenzied global purchasing of COVID-19 medical supplies has dominated Public Services and Procurement Canada for months now.

Once described by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland as the "wild west" of buying supplies, enormous demand for masks, gowns, gloves and hand sanitizer to respond to the pandemic turned into a season of Survivor in which governments needed to outwit, outplay and outlast others competing for the same goods.

The intensity of that process has relaxed slightly said Anand, but not enough that Canada is yet willing to disclose its international suppliers.

"We have to be careful not to put in jeopardy our supply chains," she said.

"Where we believe the supply chain is still in jeopardy, in other words there is still intense global demand for a particular piece of PPE, it would not be prudent for us to reveal the names of suppliers as the competition is still very intense for that good."

Canada has ordered millions of masks, gowns, gloves and other supplies to be delivered into 2021, and has accepted delivery of 99 planeloads of supplies to date.

In some cases, we did not need as much as we expected. More than 40,000 ventilators have been ordered, but not as many COVID-19 patients have needed ventilators as predicted. The 367 already delivered and the others on the way will be stored by Ottawa in case they are needed in future waves of the virus.
 
6 hr 57 min ago

The first Phase 3 trial of a coronavirus vaccine in the US has begun
From CNN Health’s Elizabeth Cohen, John Bonifield and Jamie Gumbrecht

The first Phase 3 clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine in the United States began Monday.

The investigational vaccine was developed by the biotechnology company Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. The trial is to be conducted at nearly 100 US research sites, according to Moderna. The first patient was dosed at a site in Savannah, Georgia.

The trial is expected to enroll about 30,000 adult volunteers and evaluates the safety of the Moderna/NIH vaccine and whether it can prevent symptomatic Covid-19 after two doses, among other outcomes. Volunteers will receive either two 100 microgram injections of the vaccine or a placebo about 28 days apart. Investigators and participants will not know who has received the vaccine.

Phase 1 results found immune responses: Results from a Phase 1 trial of the vaccine published earlier this month in the New England Journal of Medicine found it induced immune responses in all of the volunteers and was generally safe. It had mild side effects, including fatigue, chills, headache, muscle pain, pain at the injection site.

A Phase 1 study typically studies a small number of people and focuses on whether a vaccine is safe and elicits an immune response. In Phase 2, the clinical study is expanded and the vaccine is given to people who have characteristics -- such as age and physical health -- similar to those for whom the new vaccine is intended, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Phase 3, the vaccine is given to thousands of people and tested for efficacy and again for safety.

The Moderna/NIH vaccine is one of 25 in clinical trials around the world, according to the World Health Organization.

Moderna is one of several companies that received support from Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s Covid-19 vaccine program. On Sunday, Moderna announced it had received an additional $472 million from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority for Phase 3 study and development of its Covid-19 vaccine, bringing the total to $955 million.
 
7 hr 1 min ago
Thousands of health care workers are testing vaccines in Sao Paulo's vast human petri dish
From CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, Jo Shelley, Eduardo Duwe and William Bonnett in Sao Paolo

In the corner of a Covid-19 ward in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a woman cleaning the mouth of an intubated patient carries an extraordinary hope for pretty much all of us. Slipping a mouthwash-soaked brush into an elderly woman's mouth, at great personal daily risk, dentist Denise Abranches has something more than courage in her veins.

Abranches was the first of an expected 5,000 Brazilian key workers in the healthcare system to receive a trial coronavirus vaccine from Oxford University and multinational drugmaker AstraZeneca, along with volunteers in the UK and South Africa.

Across the city, frontline medics like her have enrolled in a Phase 3 test of the vaccine's efficacy as they battle the pandemic, which has infected more than 2 million Brazilians. And it isn't just Oxford testing its vaccine in this vast human petri dish. Chinese firm Sinovac began trials last week in Sao Paulo, and US pharma giant Pfizer plans to do so soon, bringing a race among powers to prove their vaccine works first.

Yet while nations fret over securing access to a vaccine, the potential geopolitical implications mean nothing in this ward.

To volunteer is an act of love, to donate a little of yourself to people," said Abranches.

Like many healthcare workers, she has been separated from her family for months of Brazil's pandemic, in order to avoid spreading the virus, and often failed to hold back her tears when asked about the loved ones she missed.

Read the full story:

The world's hopes for a coronavirus vaccine may run in these health care workers' veins

RELATED
The world's hopes for a coronavirus vaccine may run in these health care workers' veins
 
一帮傻老外,还在“冲刺”。

中国的陈薇少将的团队,早就成功研制疫苗,都量产,并大规模使用了。

西方还在“冲刺”
 
In Ottawa, Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam said an independent vaccine task force is advising the government on potential COVID-19 vaccines and preordering doses. The doctor said the task force is also exploring made-in-Canada manufacturing.
 
Exclusive: Russia prepares for world's first approval of a Covid-19 vaccine by mid-August, but questions remain
CNN Profiles - Matthew Chance - Senior International Correspondent - CNN
By Matthew Chance, CNN

Updated 7:50 PM ET, Tue July 28, 2020

Moscow (CNN)Russia intends to be the first in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine, in less than two weeks -- despite concerns about its safety, effectiveness and over whether the country has cut essential corners in development, CNN has learned.

Russian officials told CNN they are working toward a date of August 10 or earlier for approval of the vaccine, which has been created by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute.

It will be approved for public use, with frontline healthcare workers getting it first, they said.

"It's a Sputnik moment," said Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, which is financing Russian vaccine research, referring to the successful 1957 launch of the world's first satellite by the Soviet Union.

"Americans were surprised when they heard Sputnik's beeping. It's the same with this vaccine. Russia will have got there first," he added.

But Russia has released no scientific data on its vaccine testing and CNN is unable to verify its claimed safety or effectiveness. Critics say the country's push for a vaccine comes amid political pressure from the Kremlin, which is keen to portray Russia as a global scientific force.

There are also wide concerns the human testing of the vaccine is incomplete.

Dozens of vaccine trials are underway around the world and a small number are in large-scale efficacy trials, but most developers have cautioned that much work remains before their vaccines can be approved.

Infecting volunteers with Covid-19 might speed up the race for a vaccine. But it could be risky
Infecting volunteers with Covid-19 might speed up the race for a vaccine. But it could be risky


While some global vaccines are in the third phase of trials, the Russian vaccine is yet to complete its second phase. Developers plan to complete that phase by August 3, and then conduct the third phase of testing in parallel with the vaccination of the medical workers.

Russians scientists say the vaccine has been quick to develop because it is a modified version of one already created to fight against other diseases. That's the approach being taken in many other countries and by other companies.

Notably, Moderna, whose vaccine is being backed by the U.S. government and which started Phase 3 testing Monday, has built its coronavirus vaccine on the backbone of a vaccine it had been developing for a related virus, MERS. While this has sped the development process, US and European regulators are requiring the full complement of safety and efficacy tests for the vaccine.

Russia's defense ministry says that Russian soldiers served as volunteers in human trials.

In recorded comments provided to CNN, Alexander Ginsburg, the director of the project, said he has already injected himself with the vaccine.

Russian officials say the drug is being fast-tracked through approval because of the global pandemic and Russia's own severe coronavirus problem. The country now has more than 800,000 confirmed cases.

"Our scientists focused not on being the first but on protecting people," said Dmitriev.

The vaccine uses human adenovirus vectors that have been made weaker so they do not replicate in the body. Unlike most vaccines in development it relies on two vectors, not one, and patients would receive a second booster shot.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with health workers at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on June 20.


Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with health workers at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on June 20.

Officials say their scientific data is currently being compiled and will be made available for peer review and publication in early August.

"Russia marshaled its leadership position in vaccine development and its proven Ebola and MERS vaccine platform to bring the first safe and efficient solution to the world's biggest problem," Dmitriev told CNN previously.

The World Health Organization says there is no approved vaccine for MERS.

The Russian health ministry, which has not yet confirmed the August approval date, says frontline medical staff will be first to be vaccinated once the new drug has been approved for public use.

Large-scale vaccine trials in the United Kingdom, the United States and elsewhere are proceeding rapidly but have not committed to deadlines by which their products will be approved.

Early results from trials of a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca were promising, but Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization Health Emergencies Program, said earlier this month that "there's a long way to go."

"These are Phase 1 studies. We now need to move into larger scale real-world trials, but it is good to see more data and more products moving into this very important phase of vaccine discovery," he said.

Earlier this month, the Kremlin denied allegations Russian spies hacked into American, Canadian and British research labs to steal vaccine development secrets.
Russian officials also denied reports members of the country's political and business elite -- including Russian President Vladimir Putin -- had been given early access to the vaccine.

CNN's Rob Picheta contributed to this report.

 
“陈薇团队腺病毒5载体新冠疫苗2期结果 对于新冠病毒中和抗体滴度很低 对于55岁以上接种者效果很差”
 
7 hr 42 min ago
Monkey study indicates good news for Moderna's experimental coronavirus vaccine
From CNN's Maggie Fox


A view of Moderna headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 8.


A view of Moderna headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 8. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

A study done in monkeys suggests Moderna’s experimental coronavirus vaccine might protect against severe disease and reduce the risk of passing the virus along to others.

Moderna started advanced, Phase 3 testing of its experimental vaccine in humans in the United States on Monday -- the fastest advancement ever of a new vaccine in the US. But the quick vaccine development process means the vaccine was not tested extensively in animals before moving on to people.

A team at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which helped develop the vaccine, tested it in rhesus macaque monkeys. Then they infected the monkeys with the virus -- an experiment that would be difficult, ethically, to do in human.

Monkey tests: While the monkeys did become infected, the vaccine appeared to interfere with the spread of the virus in the animals, the NIAID team reported in The New England Journal of Medicine.
“Remarkably, after two days, no replicating virus was detectable in the lungs of seven out of eight of the macaques in both vaccinated groups, while all eight placebo-injected animals continued to have replicating virus in the lung,” the NIAID researchers said in a statement.
None of the monkeys that got the higher dose of vaccine had virus in their noses, either. That would suggest the vaccine might prevent the spread of the virus, even if people do get infected.

“This is the first time an experimental COVID-19 vaccine tested in nonhuman primates has been shown to produce such rapid viral control in the upper airway, the investigators note,” the researchers said.

“A COVID-19 vaccine that reduces viral replication in the lungs would limit disease in the individual, while reducing shedding in the upper airway would potentially lessen transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and consequently reduce the spread of disease,” they added.

The researchers note that it’s not at all clear that monkeys respond to the virus in the same way that people do. But they noted that the virus appears to replicate in the noses of the monkeys in much the same way as it does in people.

Also reassuring: One worry was that the vaccine might make the body overreact to a true infection later on, a response known as vaccine-associated enhanced respiratory disease. This didn’t happen in the monkeys, the researchers said.
 
5 hr 32 min ago
Covid-19 vaccine may not be available until mid-2021, German minister says
From CNN's Frederik Pleitgen


Germany’s minister for research Anja Karliczek, left, attends a cabinet meeting at the German chancellery in Berlin on July 29.

Germany’s minister for research Anja Karliczek, left, attends a cabinet meeting at the German chancellery in Berlin on July 29. Felipe Trueba/Pool/Getty Images

A coronavirus vaccine may not be available until the middle of next year, Germany’s minister for research Anja Karliczek warned Wednesday, as she announced further government funding to help accelerate the research and development process.
“Researchers are working at an unbelievable speed, but of course setbacks are always possible,” Karliczek said.
“We can’t expect miracles and most expect that vaccines for the vast majority of the population will only be available in the middle of next year, at the earliest,” she added.
Karliczek, speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday, said the German government would offer financial support to three labs currently developing coronavirus vaccines.

The three labs – led by pharmaceutical companies Biontech, Curevac and IDT Biologica – will share a grant of €750 million from the German health ministry, she said.

Officials hope the funding will help to accelerate both the research and development of the potential vaccines, while also increasing production capacity, Karliczek added.

“The three vaccine candidates are all very promising, but there can always be setbacks in the trials,” Karliczek said.

There are currently 25 vaccine candidates in the clinical evaluation stage of development and a further 139 at the preclinical stage, according to the World Health Organization.
 
目前世界各国都在研发新冠病毒疫苗,美国科学家将利用国家卫生研究院(NIH)在美国、南美和南非的疫苗测试网络,从本月开始先对30,000人进行人体试验,下月对另外30,000人进行临床试验。美国专家表示,开发出尽可能多安全有效的疫苗是好事,即使某种疫苗只有50%的效果都是好疫苗!

据CP24转引美联社报道,美国将开始目前为止最大规模的疫苗人体测试,本月开始将有30,000人测试由美国政府资助研发的疫苗,而在大约一个月之后,再将有另外30,000人测试英国研发的疫苗。


白宫首席传染病专家福西(Anthony Fauci)医生周四表示,目前针对新冠病毒的候选疫苗将分批进入后期临床研究,但研究人员必须测试成千上万的人,一般不是在COVID-19激增的地方,而是在病毒刚刚开始扩散的地方。

他说,只有当志愿者在接受疫苗或假注射(安慰剂)后几周内开始在整个社区传播这种病毒时——即有足够的时间让免疫系统恢复活力时,科学家才有最好的机会比较哪一组患病更多。

福西表示,NIH在美国,南美和南非拥有准备就绪的疫苗测试网络:“在一定程度上我们将灵活地在多个站点进行此操作”,以便研究人员可以随着病毒的移动而迅速转移。不过他强调,“这个操作确实没那么容易。”

福西医生强调,在世界多个地区研发出疫苗不是坏事,“这不是谁最先取得成功的竞赛。我们所做的一切,就是尽可能得到尽可能多的经批准的,而且安全有效的疫苗。”

美国宾夕法尼亚大学(University of Pennsylvania)的魏斯曼(Drew Weissman)博士说,如果研发出的最好的COVID-19疫苗只有一半的效果,“对我而言,这仍然是一个很好的疫苗”。

他还补充说:“我们现在必须开始告诉人们这一点,”以便大家对此有思想准备。

根据世卫组织(WHO)的说法,目前全球至少有15种新冠病毒疫苗处于临床试验的不同阶段,但暂时无法确定,什么时候新冠疫苗可以面世。

福西医生表示,在后期临床研究之后,到今年初冬、深冬或者2021年初,我们或许至少就能知道我们是否在研究一种安全有效的疫苗。

疫苗可以让身体迅速识别并抵御入侵的病毒。尽管无法保证其中哪一种疫苗会有任何结果,但最终至少会有3种疫苗进入最后阶段,因为研究者们还不知道,注射疫苗后人体出现什么样的免疫反应才能起到保护作用。

不过英国牛津大学(Oxford University)首席研究员吉尔伯特(Sarah Gilbert)指出,找到首个经验证的疫苗很重要,“这将真的帮助我们了解正在开发的所有其它疫苗,可以拿来比较,看它们还有没有(成功)的机会。”

即使很多国家的政府已经承诺,在今年年底前可以开始接种疫苗。但问题首先是,到时是否会有一种疫苗经验证可以开始接种;接着的问题则是,即使开始疫苗接种,排在前头的应该是那些高风险的人群,比如说医护人员等第一线工作人员,必须首先满足他们的需要。

美国杜克大学(Duke University)的健康经济学家里德利(David Ridley)直言,“你,或者我,会在今年接种(新冠)疫苗吗?实话实说:没戏。”
 
尽管加拿大抱怨与中国康希诺生物公司合作的新冠疫苗至今没运到加拿大,但是中国的疫苗研发脚步从没有片刻停歇。最新消息,来自英国和中国的两种新冠疫苗的人体临床试验的早期结果都显示出令人鼓舞的结果。两种疫苗测试结果都是安全的,并在大多数患者中诱导免疫反应。其中中国的疫苗数据显示,99.5%受试者产生了特异性抗体。


据报道,这两种疫苗分别由AstraZeneca和牛津大学(Oxford University)合作开发,另一种由中国的康希诺生物公司(CanChina Biologics Inc.)研发。

由AstraZeneca和牛津大学合作研发的AZD1222疫苗,目前已被世界卫生组织(World Health Organization)首席科学家认为是全球遏制疫情的领先候选疫苗

疫苗结果周一发表在了The Lancet医学杂志上。这种疫苗没有在人体引发任何严重的副作用,并成功产生抗体和T细胞免疫反应,其中在接受两剂疫苗的人中出现了最强的抗体反应。然而,研究人员表示,项目仍处于早期阶段,在疫苗真正上市之前,还有很多工作需要做。估计最快年底前可以真正开始交付疫苗。


目前,AstraZeneca已经与世界各国政府签署了协议,如果疫苗被证明有效并获得监管部门的批准,将不求获利向各国提供疫苗。

7月20日晚,国际医学期刊《柳叶刀》(The Lancet)在线发表由中国工程院院士、军事科学院军事医学研究院研究员陈薇团队领衔研发的重组新冠疫苗(腺病毒载体)Ⅱ期临床试验结果。这是全球首次正式发表新冠疫苗Ⅱ期临床试验数据。

99.5%受试者 产生特异性抗体

据介绍,重组新冠疫苗(腺病毒载体)Ⅱ期临床试验4月12日在武汉启动,采用随机、对照、双盲设计,把508名受试者随机分配到疫苗组和安慰剂组,目的是在更大人群范围内来验证疫苗的免疫原性和安全性。

试验结果表明,单次接种该型重组新冠疫苗(腺病毒载体)28天后,99.5%的受试者产生了特异性抗体,89.0%的受试者产生了特异性细胞免疫反应,为人体对抗新冠病毒感染提供“双重保护”。


此前,5月22日,《柳叶刀》发表了该型疫苗Ⅰ期临床试验数据,试验结果表明该疫苗安全、耐受性好,无严重不良反应,受试者全部产生抗体和细胞免疫反应。

Ⅱ期临床试验设计 重点关注年长人群

多项研究表明,在年长人群中,新冠肺炎的重症率、死亡率显著升高。陈薇院士团队在Ⅱ期临床试验设计中重点关注了年长人群,此次临床试验结果首次报道了55岁以上年长人群的免疫效果。 此次临床试验发现,与18到54岁的人群相比,55岁以上的人群免疫原性稍弱,但是安全性非常好。针对这部分人的免疫剂量,还有接种程序,陈薇团队将在下一步临床试验中给予重点关注。

Ⅱ期临床试验结果为顺利开展Ⅲ期国际临床试验奠定了坚实基础。该疫苗Ⅲ期国际临床试验正在有序推进。
 
57 min ago
A coronavirus vaccine could be ready for frontline responders by December, health expert says
From CNN's Leinz Vales


Three potential Covid-19 vaccines are kept in a tray at Novavax labs in Gaithersburg, Maryland on March 20.

Three potential Covid-19 vaccines are kept in a tray at Novavax labs in Gaithersburg, Maryland on March 20. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
The head of the US company working on a Covid-19 vaccine said it's "possible" that it will be available for frontline responders in December.
"That's a goal," Dr. Gregory Glenn, the president of research and development at Novavax, told CNN. "People have set out that goal by the end of the year, maybe we'll be deploying these vaccines and changing all of this curse that we have right now in terms of this virus."
Some context: Novavax, Inc. released Phase 1 data Tuesday from 131 volunteers showing that after two doses of the vaccine, participants developed neutralizing antibodies at levels more than four times higher on average than the antibodies developed by people who had recovered from Covid-19.

Neutralizing antibodies fight off the virus that causes Covid-19.

The study has been submitted to a medical journal, but has not yet been reviewed by scientists outside of Novavax or published.

"We see these really very robust antibody responses that we know are functional and could kill off the virus," Glenn said. "So that's got us excited and really ready to move on to the next stage of testing."
 
57 min ago
A coronavirus vaccine could be ready for frontline responders by December, health expert says
From CNN's Leinz Vales


Three potential Covid-19 vaccines are kept in a tray at Novavax labs in Gaithersburg, Maryland on March 20.

Three potential Covid-19 vaccines are kept in a tray at Novavax labs in Gaithersburg, Maryland on March 20. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
The head of the US company working on a Covid-19 vaccine said it's "possible" that it will be available for frontline responders in December.

Some context: Novavax, Inc. released Phase 1 data Tuesday from 131 volunteers showing that after two doses of the vaccine, participants developed neutralizing antibodies at levels more than four times higher on average than the antibodies developed by people who had recovered from Covid-19.

Neutralizing antibodies fight off the virus that causes Covid-19.

The study has been submitted to a medical journal, but has not yet been reviewed by scientists outside of Novavax or published.

"We see these really very robust antibody responses that we know are functional and could kill off the virus," Glenn said. "So that's got us excited and really ready to move on to the next stage of testing."
如果12月能用上疫苗,还真是挺让人振奋的!
 
福奇说:科学家正在制造一种冠状病毒株,可用于Covid-19疫苗的人类挑战试验

1 hr 57 min ago
Scientists are creating a coronavirus strain that could be used in human challenge trials of a Covid-19 vaccine
From CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Elizabeth Cohen and Jacqueline Howard

The nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, confirmed to CNN on Friday that scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases are working to create a strain of coronavirus that could be used in human challenge trials of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Fauci, director of the NIAID, described this approach as a "Plan D" – and the work is still preliminary. If needed, such human challenge trials would be in a matter of months at the earliest.

"We’re taking preliminary steps," he said.

Human challenge trials are typically used for when a virus is not widely circulating – the coronavirus is – and therefore, this approach may not be necessary, according to Fauci.
"Should there be a need for human challenge studies to fully assess candidate vaccines or therapeutics for SARS-CoV-2, NIAID has begun investigations of the technical and ethical considerations of conducting human challenge studies," the agency told Reuters.
Reuters first reported on Friday that government scientists have begun efforts to manufacture a strain of the novel coronavirus that could be used in human challenge trials of vaccines and some drugmakers — including AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson — told the news service they would consider human challenge trials to test Covid-19 vaccines if needed.
 
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