NIH Head: Large-Scale Vaccine Testing To Begin In July

The Associated Press reports:

At least four or five possible vaccines “look pretty promising” and one or two will be ready to begin large-scale testing by July with others to follow soon, NIH Director Francis Collins told The Associated Press.

“The big challenge now is to go big and everybody is about ready for that. And we want to be sure that happens in a coordinated way,” Collins said. That year-end goal is a “very bold plan … a stretch goal if there ever was one,” he said in an interview late Thursday.

Worldwide, about a dozen vaccine candidates are in the first stages of testing or poised to begin, small safety studies in people to look for obvious problems and whether the shots rev up the immune system. Among those getting the most attention are one created by the NIH and Moderna Inc., and a different type created by Britain’s Oxford University.