HERE’S HOPING

Pfizer Says Coronavirus Vaccine Could Be Ready by Fall

The pharmaceutical giant said it could begin human vaccine trials as early as next week.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said Tuesday that it will begin testing its coronavirus vaccine in the United States as soon as next week, The Wall Street Journal reports. With testing already started in Germany, the company predicts it may produce a viable drug for emergency use by the fall of 2020. Research into a COVID-19 preventive drug, which many experts originally predicted would last well into next year, has sped up in recent weeks, with Oxford researchers making similar claims to Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson expecting human testing by September, and biotechnology firm Moderna entering the second phase of human testing of its vaccine. There is no current treatment for COVID-19, and in the absence of proven coronavirus preventives, many public officials have touted drugs that have not passed scientific muster.