Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker Covid-19 Vaccine Updates
Vaccines not yet in human trials
Vaccines typically require years of research and testing before reaching the clinic, but scientists are racing to produce a safe and effective vaccine by next year.
But a few may succeed in stimulating the immune system to produce effective antibodies against the virus.
Here is the status of all the vaccines that have reached trials in humans, along with a selection of promising vaccines still being tested in cells or animals.
PRECLINICAL TESTING: Scientists give the vaccine to animals such as mice or monkeys to see if it produces an immune response.
PHASE I SAFETY TRIALS: Scientists give the vaccine to a small number of people to test safety and dosage as well as to confirm that it stimulates the immune system.
PHASE II EXPANDED TRIALS: Scientists give the vaccine to hundreds of people split into groups, such as children and the elderly, to see if the vaccine acts differently in them.
These trials further test the vaccine’s safety and ability to stimulate the immune system.
PHASE III EFFICACY TRIALS: Scientists give the vaccine to thousands of people and wait to see how many become infected, compared with volunteers who received a placebo.
These trials can determine if the vaccine protects against the coronavirus.
APPROVAL: Regulators in each country review the trial results and decide whether to approve the vaccine or not.
During a pandemic, a vaccine may receive emergency use authorization before getting formal approval.
WARP SPEED: The U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed program has selected five vaccine projects to receive billions of dollars in federal funding and support before there’s proof that the vaccines work.
COMBINED PHASES: Another way to accelerate vaccine development is to combine phases.
Some coronavirus vaccines are now in Phase I/II trials, for example, in which they are tested for the first time on hundreds of people.
Vaccines that use one or more of the coronavirus’s own genes to provoke an immune response. Genetic Vaccines
PHASE II WARP SPEED
Moderna’s mRNA vaccine dazzled the stock market in May with Phase I data on just eight people, only to see its stock price drop when experts had a lukewarm reaction to the results. moderna
PHASE I PHASE II WARP SPEED
The German company BioNTech has entered into collaborations with Pfizer, based in New York, and the Chinese drug maker Fosun Pharma to develop their mRNA vaccine.
In May, Pfizer announced human trials for the vaccine.
Another beneficiary of Operation Warp Speed, Pfizer hopes to have a few million doses for emergency use in the fall if all goes well in the trials.
PHASE I PHASE II
Imperial College London researchers have developed a “self-amplifying” RNA vaccine, which boosts production of a viral protein to stimulate the immune system.
They began Phase I/II trials on June 15 and have partnered with Morningside Ventures to manufacture and distribute the vaccine through a new company called VacEquity Global Health.
In May, the American company Inovio published a study showing that their DNA-based vaccine produced antibodies in mice.
Phase I trials are underway in the United States and will start in South Korea at the end of June.
PRECLINICAL
In March, the Trump administration tried to entice CureVac to move its research from Germany to the United States.
The company has not yet started human trials for Covid-19, but a rabies vaccine based on the same RNA design passed Phase I safety trials in January.
The company said its German facility can make hundreds of millions of vaccines a year.
Viral Vector Vaccines
Vaccines that use a virus to deliver coronavirus genes into cells and provoke an immune response.
PHASE II PHASE III WARP SPEED
A vaccine in development by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford is based on a chimpanzee adenovirus called ChAdOx1.
The vaccine is beginning Phase II/III testing in England and Brazil.
Supported by Operation Warp Speed, the project may deliver emergency vaccines by October.
In June, AstraZeneca said their total manufacturing capacity stands at two billion doses.
PHASE II
The Chinese company CanSino Biologics is testing a vaccine based on an adenovirus called Ad5, in partnership with the Institute of Biology at the country’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences.
In May they published a paper in the Lancet, the first time Phase I trial data from any Covid-19 vaccine appeared in a scientific journal.
PRECLINICAL WARP SPEED
Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston are testing an adenovirus called Ad26 in monkeys.
Johnson & Johnson, picked by Operation Warp Speed, announced in June that they would start Phase I/II trials in late July.
