A new phase 1 clinical trial of a potential vaccine for the SARS-CoV2 coronavirus began on Monday, with four patients receiving the jab at the Kaiser Permanente research facility in Seattle, Washington. The vaccine cannot cause Covid-19 but contains a harmless genetic code copied from the virus that causes the disease.
The first person to get the jab on Monday was a 43-year-old mother-of-two from Seattle.
Jennifer Haller from Seattle who received the first jab said; “I hope that we get to a working vaccine quickly and that we can save lives and people can go back to life as soon as possible,”, in an interview with a leading magazine.
The first human trial of a vaccine to protect against pandemic coronavirus is being funded by the National Institutes of Health, and Moderna Therapeutics is the company behind this project. According to the company, vaccine has been made using a tried and tested process.
There is currently no vaccine for Covid-19.
Phase I of the trial is meant to establish the vaccine is safe and induces a desired response from participants’ immune systems. Proving that the vaccine is effective in preventing coronavirus infection, however, will require follow-up studies involving many more participants, which will take many more months.
“This study is the first step in the clinical development of an mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, and we expect it to provide important information about safety and immunogenicity,” said Tal Zaks, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer at Moderna in a press release. He added that Moderna is already working with the FDA and other organizations to prepare for a phase 2 trial, which would involve larger numbers of patients.
