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A Roundup of COVID-19 Vaccine News
With vaccines being developed as fast as possible, we can barely keep up or keep you up to date. Here are some major stories this week:
- New experimental vaccine studies from the pharmaceutical company Novavax are promising, reports The New York Times (subscription). One study saw the vaccine produce a high level of antibodies against the virus with no harmful side effects, while the other found that the vaccine strongly protected monkeys from COVID-19 infections.
- Moderna is setting prices for its vaccine candidate, reports Reuters.
- Johnson & Johnson announced a deal with the United States to create 100 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine—with a price tag of $1 billion, reports CNBC. Its late-stage human trials are slated to begin in September.
- AstraZeneca will make its potential COVID-19 vaccine in mainland China, reports Reuters.
Meanwhile, distribution challenges loom large, according to The Washington Post (subscription). We’re heading toward “what is expected to be the largest single vaccination campaign ever undertaken,” but health experts and state officials have gotten little information from the Trump administration about how that will unfold—and the information they have gotten is often confusing.
As if that weren’t enough: COVID-19 vaccines aren’t the only shots we’re expecting. We’ll also be fighting the seasonal flu—and as CNBC reports, companies are making record numbers of that vaccine, too.