Over 40% of candidates enrolled for coronavirus vaccine trial, says Moderna

Moderna Inc, the drug developer said on Friday that it has so far enrolled 13,194 participants in the ongoing final-stage 30,000 volunteer of US trial testing its coronavirus vaccine candidate.

The company said in a tweet that 18% of the participants at present enrolled are Black, Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, groups among the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Moderna began the study of its vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273, in July and expects to complete enrollment in September.

The 30,000 subject US trial is among the 1st final-stage studies supported by the Donald Trump administration’s effort to speed up the development of measures against the novelCOvid-19, adding to the hope that an effective vaccine will help end this dreadful pandemic.

The company entered a supply agreement with the United State government last week to provide 100 million doses of its potential coronavirus vaccine for about$1.5 billion.

Moderna, which has never before has brought a vaccine in the market, had prior received almost $1 billion from the US government, which is helping Moderna bankroll numerous vaccine candidates under its Operation Warp Speed program.

Black and Latino Americans are infected with coronavirus more than twice the rate of white Americans, while Native Americans are infected even at higher rates, shows the research. The groups are historically underrepresented in clinical trials.

A top executive of Pfizer told Reuters that around 19% of the 11,000 people have enrolled so far in a 30,000 volunteer US trial of its coronavirus vaccine with BioNTech, German partner are Black or Latino.

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