The Latest on the Coronavirus Vaccine

Researchers nation-wide have been working hard to develop a vaccine for COVID-19.

As the world prepares for a new wave of coronavirus spikes, people across the nation wonder when a vaccine will be made available to the public. Over the last several months, researchers nation-wide have been working hard to develop a vaccine. One potential candidate, a vaccine called mRNA-1273, is being co-developed by researchers at NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the biotech company Moderna, Inc.

This vaccine is designed to help the body's immune system fight attacks from the coronavirus "spike" protein, as this protein is what binds the virus to human cells.

The push for a vaccine doesn't stop there, either. In total, there are more than 160 vaccines in development, and 26 are currently in human trials. The goal is to have a vaccine ready for the American public by next year—an unusually fast timetable, seeing how vaccines typically take years to research and test before reaching the clinic.

There are different phases for these vaccines. As of now, 140 vaccines are in a pre-clinical phase (not yet in human trials). Nineteen are in phase one (small-scale safety trials), 11 are in phase two (expanded safety trials), and three are in phase three (large-scale efficacy trials), but none have been approved for general use. With any luck, the control groups in phase three will see positive effects with minimal side effects to confirm the vaccines' safety, and one of the treatments will be pushed to the public in the near future.
