Moderna on track for large COVID-19 vaccine test in July

first experimental COVID-19 vaccine in U.S. is on track to begin a huge study next month to prove if it really can fend off coronavirus, its manufacturer anunced Thursday — a long-awaited step in global vaccine race.

vaccine, developed by U.S. National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., will be tested in 30,000 volunteers -- some given real shot and some a dummy shot.

Moderna said it alrey has me eugh doses for pivotal late-st testing. Still needed before those injections begin: results of how shot has fared in smaller, earlier-st studies.

But Moderna’s anuncement suggests those studies are making eugh progress for company and NIH to get rey to move ahe.

Moderna launched its vaccine test in mid-March with an initial 45 volunteers. company said it has finished enrolling 300 younger ults in its second st of testing, and has begun studying how older ults react to vaccine. se initial studies check for side effects and how well people’s immune systems respond to different doses. But only still-to-come huge trial can show if vaccine works.

Worldwide, about a dozen COVID-19 potential vaccines are in early sts of testing. NIH expects to help several ditional shots move into those final, large-scale studies this summer, including one me by Oxford University.

re are guarantees any of m will pan out.

But if all goes well, “re will be potential to get answers" on which vaccines work by end of year, Dr. John Mascola, who directs NIH’s vaccine research center, told a meeting of National Acemy of Medicine on Wednesday.

Governments are beginning to stockpile hundreds of millions of doses of different vaccine candidates so y can be rey to start vaccinating as soon as scientists learn that one works. In U.S, a program called “Operation Warp Speed” aims to have 300 million doses on hand by January.