Fauci: U.S. to Advance Phase III Clinical Trials for Three COVID-19 Candidate Vaccines
AstraZeneca
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Johnson & Johnson
Healthcare Product Manufacturers, Health Service Providers
Moderna
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National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that constitute the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID’s mission is to conduct basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases. NIAID operates “intramural” laboratories in Maryland and Montana and funds research conducted by scientists at institutions across the United States and around the world.
Washington, June 10 (Xinhua) — Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a key member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, announced on the 10th that the U.S. government would fund Phase III clinical trials for three candidate COVID-19 vaccines.
In an interview with U.S. media, Fauci stated that the mRNA-1273 vaccine developed by Moderna in the United States will be the first to initiate Phase III clinical trials in July; the vaccine jointly developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom will begin Phase III clinical trials in August; and Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine from the United States will commence Phase III clinical trials in September.
Fauci stated that the clinical trial schedule for the vaccine aligns with his previously projected timeline, and widespread use of the COVID-19 vaccine will not occur until late this year or early next year.
According to CNN, each of the three clinical trials will be conducted at more than 50 sites, most of them in the United States, with 30,000 participants enrolled.
Robert Schooley, Chair of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of California, San Diego, stated in an interview with a Xinhua News Agency reporter that it is relatively easy for candidate vaccines to enter Phase I clinical trials, which primarily require meeting conditions such as enabling the immune system to recognize the virus. After evaluating the safety of candidate vaccines and the immune responses they induce during Phase I and Phase II clinical trials, those demonstrating significant efficacy will advance to larger-scale Phase III clinical trials. Phase III trials require a larger sample size and are mainly designed to assess the vaccine’s effectiveness in reducing infection rates and other relevant outcomes.
In mid-May, U.S. President Trump announced a research initiative called “Operation Warp Speed” to accelerate scientific research on COVID-19 vaccines, drugs, and testing, expressing his expectation that a COVID-19 vaccine would be developed by the end of this year.