05-18-2020, 04:40 PM
(05-18-2020, 04:30 PM)tomh009 Wrote:(05-18-2020, 03:55 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine seems to be doing well in it's phase 1 trial and sounds to be moving to phase 2.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-ne...r-n1209161
It's still pretty early in the process, though.
University of Melbourne's vaccine project is the furthest along as it is recruiting volunteers for phase 3. The speed advantage it has derives from being based on the BCG vaccine.
Vaccine tracker here:
https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/n...ne-tracker
I'm not suggesting there isn't a lot of work to do, but it is still great progress.
The BCG vaccine is an interesting prospect, but the reason it is already in Phase 3 is it isn't a vaccine for COVID, merely a vaccine that seems to correlated with, by some currently unknown mechanism (the BCG vaccine doesn't induce COVID antibodies in the recipients), protection against COVID-19. While the fact that it's already a known safe vaccine is a huge benefit and makes it absolutely worth testing, it is far far less likely to prove out as a useful vaccine.
On the other hand, the moderna vaccine entering phase 2 means it has been shown to be safe in a small test group, and also has been shown to induce COVID-19 antibodies in the recipients. While it may be farther off, it is far better understood as to how and why it would confer protection.