The world’s biggest COVID-19 vaccine test got underway Monday with the first of 30,000 planned volunteers.
The experimental vaccine is made by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., and it’s one of several candidates in the final stretch of the global vaccine race.
[ Coronavirus: Moderna vaccine shows promise; produces immune response to COVID-19 in humans ]
The needed proof: Whether more people who get dummy shots become infected than those given two doses of the real vaccine.
Volunteers will not know if they are getting the real shot or a dummy version.
After two doses, scientists will closely track which group experiences more infections as they go about their daily routines, especially in areas where the virus still is spreading unchecked.
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The U.S. government plans separate huge studies of several leading vaccine candidates through fall, each in hot spots where the virus still is spreading.
This comes on the same day President Trump will be in Morrisville, North Carolina to visit a company in Research Triangle Park that is working to distribute a COVID-19 vaccine when one is approved.
He is expected to speak about the teamwork between the administration and the private sector to develop a vaccine.
>> Channel 9′s government reporter Joe Bruno will be there with President Trump. Look for his LIVE coverage, starting at 5 p.m. on Eyewitness News.