Companies already stockpiling COVID-19 vaccines as trials continue across country

ATLANTA — The U.S. is already stockpiling a coronavirus vaccine while it’s still being tested across the country, including here in metro Atlanta at Emory University.

Phase 3 of the Moderna vaccine trial is scheduled to begin in the coming weeks at Emory.

The nation’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, with the National Institutes of Health, believes it’ll be ready for families to use by the beginning of next year.

“Emory University is one of about 89 research sites where the Moderna vaccine is in its third phase of clinical trials. Right now, scientists are looking for 30,000 volunteers -- people who do not have COVID-19,” Fauci said. “So you do a lot of people, you follow them carefully, and you prove or not that the vaccine works.”

They’ll do that by seeing how many catch COVID-19 after getting the vaccine.

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Scientists hope to target volunteers in so-called hot spots like a lot of communities in metro Atlanta.

“Half of them get the vaccine, half of them get a placebo and then you wait and see what happens with infection in the community,” Fauci said.

Already, the U.S. is starting to make and store the vaccine so it’s ready to go if it proves successful.

“The companies are already starting to manufacture the doses in anticipation that they will have a safe and effective vaccine. That’s the financial risk the government is taking in order to make sure we have it in a timely fashion,” Fauci said.

He said if it works, they’ll start rolling out the vaccines by early 2021.

“We hope by the end of this year, by the late fall, early winter, that we will know whether the vaccine is safe and effective,” Fauci said.

If you are interested in volunteering to a vaccine trial, CLICK HERE.

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Cox Media Group