Partly True: World's first COVID-19 vaccine is ready for human testing, and it will help save lives.

By: Harshitha B
May 13 2020

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Clinical trials of the first COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. began at KPWHRI in March 2020, but whether it would be a potential cure is unknown.A news release by the U.S. National Institute of Health has stated that a phase 1 clinical trial evaluating an investigational vaccine designed to protect against COVID-2019 had begun at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) in Seattle on 16 March 2020. The open-label trial was to enrol 45 healthy adult volunteers ages 18 to 55 years over approximately 6 weeks. The first participant received the investigational vaccine. The study had been evaluating different doses of the experimental vaccine for safety and its ability to induce an immune response in participants. The vaccine is called mRNA-1273 and was developed by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) scientists and their collaborators at the biotechnology company Moderna, Inc., based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Economic Times also reported that the U.S. researchers had given healthy volunteers the first shot of an experimental coronavirus vaccine. However, there have been no official announcements of any successful vaccination trials for COVID-19 worldwide. As of now, whether the first vaccine test would save lives is speculation. The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a lot of potentially dangerous misinformation. For reliable advice on COVID-19 including symptoms, prevention and available treatment, please refer to the World Health Organisation or your national healthcare authority.