Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker - Developing Vaccines Against Covid-19

Ultimately, to win the battle against the Covid-19, we will rely on a safe and effective available in very large quantities. Pharmaceutical companies (large or small), biotech companies, academic, and governmental agencies have all rushed into the vaccine development field to fight the Covid-19. We hope that some vaccines will eventually become the winners.

The New York Times has a website for "Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker". The tracker grouped the vaccines into four categories:

• Genetic Vaccines developed by Moderna, BioNTech/Pfizer, Inovio, ...
• Viral Vector Vaccines developed by Oxford/Astrazeneca, CanSinoBIO, Johnson and Johnson,...
• Protein-Based Vaccines developed by Novavax, GSK, Baylor College of Medicine,...
• Whole-Virus Vaccines developed by Sinovac, Sinopharm,...

So far, some vaccines have gone beyond the pre-clinical stage and progressed into the clinical trial stage. Below is a timeline for those vaccines already in human trials: 

Also, this map shows where coronavirus vaccines are being tested around the world.

However, vaccine development is a lengthy process consisting of phase 1 -> phase 2 -> phase 3 clinical trials before the vaccine can be approved for use. In phase 3 study, the candidate vaccine must be demonstrated to be safe in the general public (with different age groups including the population with underly conditions)

With so many clinical trials initiated or to be indicated, there may be a shortage of volunteers for these studies. The extreme measures to control the Covid-19 (guarantee, stay-at-home, face-masks,...) are necessary to prevent the virus spread, however, it will lower the incidence rate of Covid-19 - consequently, the phase 3 studies for vaccines will require larger sample size with more participants in order to have the adequate statistical power and accumulate a sufficient number of Covid-19 infection cases to establish the efficacy of the candidate vaccine. The phase 2 study will include around 1000 volunteers and the phase 3 study will be even bigger with tens of thousands of volunteers. For those vaccines already in the clinical trial stage: the University of Oxford's phase 1/2 trial had a sample size of 1,090 participants. Moderna's vaccine candidate is being tested in phase 2 study with 600 participants. Its phase 3 study is planned to start this July and will include 30,000 participants to test if the vaccine is safe in general population and if the vaccine is effective in preventing symptomatic Covid-19.


Can we really expect to have a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine available in a year? It is unlikely, but some people are cautiously optimistic. Read the panel discussions below:

Can a Vaccine for Covid-19 Be Developed in Record Time?

A discussion moderated by Siddhartha Mukherjee