U.S. biotechnology firm Moderna says it will enter the final stages of human trials for the Covid-19 vaccine on July 27 to test how effectively it protects humans in the real world.
The statement announced yesterday was made during the initial experiments aimed at proving the vaccine is safe and triggering the production of antibodies to be published.
The third phase of the trial will recruit 30,000 participants in the United States with half receiving a vaccine at a dose of 100 micrograms and the other half receiving a placebo.
The researchers will then track them for two years to determine if they are protected from infection by the virus or if they are infected, whether the vaccine prevents symptoms from developing.
If they still experience symptoms, the vaccine can still be considered successful if it stops the severe case of COVID-19.
The study should be conducted until October 27, 2022, but preliminary results should be available before that.
According to The Economic Times, the announcement came shortly after the New England Journal of Medicine published the results of the first stage of the Moderna’s vaccine trial. The trial showed all 45 participants had developed antibodies to the virus.
Moderna is in a leading position in the worldwide race to find a vaccine against COVID-19 that has infected more than 13.2 million people and killed 570,000.
Source: The Economic Times