First Covid-19 Vaccine in US Ready for Final Testing

WASHINGTON, KOMPAS.com – The first Covid-19 vaccine tested in the United States has delivered promising signs to ward off the Covid-19 virus.

The vaccine has boosted people’s immune systems the way scientists had hoped, according to researchers.

Researchers anxiously awaited findings from the first 45 volunteers who received a shot of the first Covid-19 vaccine back in March.

The result came back positive as early tests have proven that the first Covid-19 vaccine improved the volunteers’ immune system.

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The vaccine is now on its way to begin the crucial round of final testing.

“No matter how you slice this, this is good news,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top infectious disease expert, told AP.

The US’ first Covid-19 vaccine was developed by Dr. Anthony Fauci’s colleagues at the National Institutes of Health and Moderna, Inc.

Final testing is scheduled to take place on July 27 and will involve a 30,000-person study.

The objective is to prove if the first Covid-19 vaccine in the US can sufficiently protect people against the Covid-19 virus.

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Those early volunteers developed what is called neutralizing antibodies in their bloodstream — molecules key to blocking infection — at levels comparable to those found in people who survived Covid-19, the research team reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“This is an essential building block that is needed to move forward with the trials that could actually determine whether the vaccine does protect against infection,” said Dr. Lisa Jackson of the Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute in Seattle, who led the study.

There’s no guarantee but the government hopes to have results around the end of the year — record-setting speed for developing a vaccine.

The vaccine requires two doses, a month apart.