Washington News Bureau

Coronavirus: What’s next for the Moderna vaccine that’s showing promise?

In the words of the government’s top infectious disease expert, “No matter how you slice this, this is good news.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci is talking about the vaccine developed by the biotech company Moderna.

Researchers say the phase one trial showed the vaccine triggered immune response in all 45 volunteers who received it.

On top of that, their levels of antibodies were similar to patients who naturally recovered from COVID-19.

The volunteers only had mild side effects, including fatigue, chills and muscle pain.

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The next step for the vaccine is a new trial, which gets underway later this month.

That will involve 30,000 people who will be studied to see if the shots really are strong enough to protect against the virus.

It will mark the world’s largest study of a potential COVID-19 vaccine so far.

Fauci said he believes the world needs multiple vaccines for the illness. He said there will come a time when all of us won’t need to worry about getting infected.

“I hope that that time will be reasonably soon, and when I say soon, I mean in the next year to year and a half,” Fauci said.