Testing timeline: What’s ahead for COVID-19 vaccines; HUD secretary Ben Carson tests positive
Pfizer’s surprising news that its COVID-19 vaccine might offer more protection than anticipated — an announcement right after a fraught U.S. presidential election campaign — is raising questions about exactly how the different shots will make it to market.
Pfizer Inc. and the maker of the other leading U.S. vaccine candidate, Moderna Inc., have been cautioning for weeks that the earliest they could seek regulatory approval for wider use of their shots would be late November. In Britain, AstraZeneca recently said it hoped to prove its own vaccine was effective by year’s end.
The hard truth: Science moves at its own pace. While COVID-19 vaccines are being developed at record speeds in hope of ending the pandemic, when they’re ready for prime time depends on a long list of research steps including how many study volunteers wind up getting the coronavirus — something scientists cannot control.
Here’s a look at the process:
In other developments:
- Pfizer said that its COVID-19 vaccine may be a remarkable 90% effective, based on early and incomplete test results that nevertheless brought a big burst of optimism to a world desperate for the means to finally bring the catastrophic outbreak under control.
- The incoming Biden administration is promising a cohesive national strategy to combat the worsening coronavirus outbreak, something many public health officials and Democratic governors say they welcome after months of mixed messaging under the Trump administration.
- The Trump campaign’s election night watch party in the White House East Room — with few masks and no social distancing — is being eyed as a potential coronavirus super-spreading event. Ben Carson, the secretary for Housing and Urban Development, is the latest attendee to test positive.
- University of Notre Dame students are now subject to mandatory coronavirus testing and face strict penalties if they leave town before getting their test results after thousands of fans stormed the football field and threw parties to celebrate a double-overtime upset over Clemson.
- Deeply conservative Utah began a major shift in fighting the coronavirus pandemic Monday, implementing a statewide mask mandate for the first time and planning a dramatic increase in testing.
- Federal regulators are requiring Zoom to strengthen its security in a proposed settlement of allegations that the video conferencing service misled users about its level of security for meetings. Zoom has become a staple during the pandemic because it allows people to meet online rather than in person.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced Monday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus and will be working in self-isolation while being treated.
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