Moderna, the first pharmaceutical firm to conduct human trials of a coronavirus vaccine in the U.S., said it should know sometime in November whether its vaccine works. Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel told CNBC on Thursday that it could have enough data by October from its late-stage trial to evaluate its efficacy, although he said he viewed that timeline as unlikely, according to the report.
President Donald Trump has asserted that a vaccine could be ready “during the month of October.” Experts say that is unlikely given the time required to test and evaluate the vaccines for efficacy and safety. U.S. Centers for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield told Congress Wednesday a vaccine wouldn’t be widely available until the second or third quarter of next year — a projection that Mr. Trump took issue with, saying that Redfield “made a mistake.”
Redfield also said a mask could be even more effective in fighting the virus than a vaccine for someone who fails to build an immunity response from the vaccine.
