Will a COVID-19 vaccine be ready in 2020? It looks like Pfizer and Moderna might make it happen – CNET

Experts are hopeful that a vaccine for the SARS-CoV-2 virus will become available sooner rather than later.

We've been waiting on one or more COVID-19 vaccines for months, unsure of not only when they would arrive but how effective they would be when they did. Now it appears the two vaccines that will most likely be the first to receive Food and Drug Administration authorization might get here before 2021. Not only that, but clinical trials have demonstrated both are over 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 infections. That means at least nine out of 10 people who receive those vaccines will likely not contract COVID-19, even if they're exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease, after being inoculated.

Last week, US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced it has a vaccine that demonstrated 90% efficacyin tests conducted on 43,538 people in six countries, with no serious safety concerns. Moderna, a US biotech firm, announced this week that its vaccine has been demonstrated to bealmost 95% effective and also relatively safe in a trial that included over 30,000 people. Each vaccine requires an initial dose plus a subsequent "booster" dose several weeks later.

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Both companies plan to apply for emergency authorization from the FDA this month. Pfizer, if authorized, expects to produce up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020, and 1.3 billion in 2021. Moderna plans to ship 20 million doses in 2020 and another 500 million to 1 billion in 2021, if authorized. With over 330 million people in the US alone,not everyone will be able to get a vaccine at once -- the first doses to reach market will likely go to heath care personnel, followed by essential workers, people with underlying medical conditions and older adults.

Pfizer and Moderna represent only the tip of the iceberg. Currently, there are67 coronavirus vaccinesin various stages of clinical trials, with a handful almost ready to apply for authorization. Most experts believe we'll have several moreready to distribute by early 2021, but it may not be until 2022 that life starts to get back to normal.

Here, we walk you through the leading coronavirus vaccine news and explain where the most promising candidates stand. This article is updated frequently and is intended to be a general overview and not a source of medical advice. If you're seeking more information about coronavirus testing, here's how to find a testing site near you.

An effective coronavirus vaccine might be the only way to bring a stop to preventative measures, like social distancing and face masks.

Several acceleration efforts are currently underway, like theWhite House's Operation Warp Speed, which is meant to cut through regulatory red tape to speed up vaccine development and be ready to distribute vaccines as soon as they receive FDA authorization. So far, the US government haspledged over $10 billionto several vaccine manufacturers to secure a total of 800 million vaccine doses.

Experts say recent surges in coronavirus cases aren't merely the result of the US doing more testing, as a higher percentage of those tested are coming up positive compared to earlier stages of the pandemic.

Vaccines typically take about10 to 15 years to developand approve, through four phases that includehuman trials. But with Operation Warp Speed, approved vaccine projects can submit data to the FDA bit by bit, rather than submitting all the data from a four-phase trial all at once.

Meanwhile, the program is also financially backing efforts to start manufacturing doses while clinical trials are still ongoing. That means if and when those vaccines do get authorized, there will already be a store of doses ready to distribute nationally.

Here's a quick look at some of the frontrunners besides Pfizer and Moderna in the race to find a vaccine for COVID-19, including where the vaccines are being developed, where they are on testing them, and when scientists think they might be ready for widespread distribution, if known.

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Oxford University/AstraZeneca (UK):AstraZeneca began testing on100,000 human volunteers in at least three countries. Lead researcher Dr. Sarah Gilbert had initially said AstraZeneca is aiming for a fall 2020 releaseand, while that may be optimistic at this point after the trial was briefly paused to investigate a participant's illness, it doesn't appear to be significantly delayed.

Sinovac (China): Currently testing its vaccine on about 10,000 human volunteers in China and about 9,000 in Brazil and is set to begin testing on about 1,900 test subjects in Indonesia soon. Honesti Basyir, the president of Bio Farma, Sinovac's Indonesian partner, has said he expects the vaccine to be ready by early 2021.

Sinopharm (China): Currently testing about 15,000 volunteers in the Middle Eastin a trial the state-owned company expects to last three to six months. Early results suggest the drug is safe and at least somewhat effective. Sinopharm recently built a second facility to manufacture the vaccine, doubling its capacity to about 200 million doses per year.

CanSino Biologics (China): Set to begin large-scale human trials this summer, CanSino's vaccine has already been approved for the Chinese military. The vaccine is based on a modified common cold virus, which some experts warn could make it less effective than other vaccine efforts.

Wearing a face mask remains the surest way of preventing transmission of the coronavirus.

We probably won't know until next year, but Fauci has suggested we might requireseveral different vaccinesmade and distributed by different labs to bring an end to the pandemic, in apaper published May 11 in the journal Science. He also has said he foresees different vaccines being given to different patient populations. For example, one vaccine for elderly or other high-risk patients, another for healthy adults and another for children.

Getting one or more vaccines through clinical trials to FDA approval is just the first leg of the journey. The next is convincing people to take it. Sixty-three percent of US adults expressed safety concerns over a coronavirus vaccine, according to aHarris Pollfrom Oct. 19, with 40% of respondents specifically worrying that development has beentoofast. Some people are reportedlyconcerned about possible side effects.

Life in the US will begin to return to normal once we reach what scientists call "herd immunity," which, with regard to the coronavirus, means at least 60% to 70% of the population is immune. So long as enough people take the vaccine to reach that level, it won't matter if a few people object or decline to take the vaccine for other reasons, for example, if they aren't healthy enough to be vaccinated.

Most experts expect a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, by 2021.

Coronaviruses are a large class of viruses andso far there are no vaccinesfor any of them. While there are promising early results, there's no guarantee a vaccine will be ready by 2021. Statistically, only about 6% of vaccine candidates ever make it through to market,according to a Reuters reportfrom April. However, health officials are very optimistic that the Pfizer vaccine and others like it could end the coronavirus pandemic.

Whether or not COVID-19 vaccines are effective at stopping the spread of coronavirus will depend a lot on how our bodies build immunity to the disease. Here's what we know so far about whether or not you can get COVID-19 more than once. Testing is also key to slowing coronavirus' spread -- learn about a device that can produce results in under 90 minutes here. Finally, read about how all of these issues and more weigh in on US President-elect Joseph Biden's plan to fight COVID-19.

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

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Will a COVID-19 vaccine be ready in 2020? It looks like Pfizer and Moderna might make it happen - CNET