Early Coronavirus Vaccine Results Show Promise

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS - MAY 08: A view of Moderna headquarters on May 08, 2020 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Moderna was given FDA approval to continue to phase 2 of Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine trials with 600 p... CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS - MAY 08: A view of Moderna headquarters on May 08, 2020 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Moderna was given FDA approval to continue to phase 2 of Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine trials with 600 participants. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) MORE LESS

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — An experimental vaccine against the coronavirus showed encouraging results in very early testing, triggering hoped-for immune responses in eight healthy, middle-aged volunteers, its maker announced Monday.

The vaccine by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna Inc., generated antibodies similar to those seen in people who have recovered from COVID-19 in study volunteers who were given either a low or medium dose.

In the next phase of the study, led by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, researchers will try to determine which dose is best for a definitive experiment that they aim to start in July.

The vaccine seems safe so far, the company said. A high dose version is being dropped after spurring some short-term side effects.

Worldwide, about a dozen vaccine candidates are in the first stages of testing or nearing it.

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  1. Funny how vaccines are being developed by the scientists Fat Nixon is now blaming for the Trump Pandemic death toll. Guess they must be feeling really guilty…

  2. Without absolutely independent confirmation that this is an effective vaccine, and zero evidence they’re cooking the books on safety testing, I’m sorry to say I’m treating anything our own government is involved with as total snake oil.

  3. Avatar for jw1 jw1 says:

    Not sure how much a vaccine-- right now, today-- would be of help…

    Excerpt:

    Cellphone location data suggests that demonstrators at anti-lockdown protests – some of which have been connected with Covid-19 cases – are often traveling hundreds of miles to events, returning to all parts of their states, and even crossing into neighboring ones.

    The data, provided to the Guardian by the progressive campaign group the Committee to Protect Medicare, raises the prospect that the protests will play a role in spreading the coronavirus epidemic to areas which have, so far, experienced relatively few infections.

  4. The good news here is this is additional evidence that a vaccine is feasible. There has been considerable discussion centered around a proposition that coronavirus affects the immune system and represses a normal immune response.

    These are still early days, early days. This is not a vaccine yet.

  5. The race is on. Several vaccines have shown promise. None of them will be out before early next year. The early winter wave could be a disaster.

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