WEDNESDAY, May 6, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Human trials on an experimental COVID-19 vaccine began in the United States on Monday, Pfizer and the German pharmaceutical company BioNTech said.
If the trials show that the vaccine is effective, it could be available for emergency use in the United States as early as September, The New York Times reported.
The experimental vaccine, called BNT162, is being jointly developed by the two companies, and the first human trials of the vaccine began in Germany last month. In the United States, the plan is to test the vaccine on 360 healthy volunteers in the first stage of the study, with up to 8,000 more participants added by the end of the second stage, The Times reported.
Other companies have also launched human trials of experimental COVID-19 vaccines, but no vaccine has yet been approved to fight the virus.
