A biotech company in Massachusetts has recently shipped the first batch of its coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine.
A report by Time stated that Cambridge-based Moderna Therapeutics sent the first vials to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD, which will prepare the vaccine for human testing as early as April.
The vaccine was created after the genetic sequence of the COVID-19 virus was released by Chinese researchers in mid-January.
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A patient who was brought back to the US after testing positive for the disease aboard the Diamond Princess has first volunteered for the study.
This will be led by a team from the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
NIH scientists also began testing an antiviral drug called ‘Remdesivir’ that was developed for Ebola, on a patient infected with SARS-CoV-2.
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Those who have also been diagnosed with COVID-19 will also become part of the study.
