CINCINNATI (WKRC) – There’s big money going toward a new vaccine to fight COVID-19.
Operation Warp Speed was launched several months ago by President Donald Trump to fund research towards a vaccine. In May, $1.2 billion went to pharmaceutical giant AstraZenca for vaccine development. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have also received Phase 3 contracts.
Now, Novavax is expecting to begin Phase 3 trials by October. They’re receiving $1.6 billion to test the vaccine and get production levels up to speed in advance of its possible approval. It was all part of the promise the president made as part of the campaign.
This Novavax vaccine contains a small part of the coronavirus. It’s called the spike protein. That’s the part that sits on top of the virus. They hope it will trick the body’s immune system into thinking it’s actually the entire virus, which then attacks the real virus.
The company said they’re aiming to deliver 100 million doses by February. If it works, that would still be during flu season in many areas. Right now, they’re checking for the appropriate antibody responses in the body. We won’t know for sure until they have final approval and human trial results approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
