Coronavirus vaccine timeline

PHASE 2 PHASE 3 – COMBINED PHASES 

A vaccine in development by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford is based on a chimpanzee adenovirus called ChAdOx1. A study on monkeys found that the vaccine provided them protection. In May, the United States awarded the project $1.2 billion in support. Their Phase 1/2 trial revealed that the vaccine was safe, causing no severe side effects. It raised antibodies against the coronavirus as well as other immune defenses. The vaccine is now in Phase 2/3 trials in England and India, as well as Phase 3 trials in Brazil, South Africa, and the United States.

In August the European Union reached an agreement for AstraZeneca to deliver 400 million doses if the trials yield positive results. AstraZeneca has indicated they might be able to start delivering emergency vaccines as early as October, depending on the outcome of the studies. The company has said their total manufacturing capacity for the vaccine, if approved, stands at two billion doses. India’s Serum Institute has already produced millions of doses to be used in trials.

PHASE 3 – APPROVED FOR LIMITED USE

The Chinese company CanSino Biologics developed a vaccine based on an adenovirus called Ad5, in partnership with the Institute of Biology at the country’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences. In May, they published promising results from a Phase 1 safety trial, and in July they reported that their Phase 2 trials demonstrated the vaccine produced a strong immune response. In an unprecedented move, the Chinese military approved the vaccine on June 25 for a year as a “specially needed drug.” CanSino would not say whether vaccination would be mandatory
or optional for soldiers. On August 9, the Saudi health ministry announced that CanSino Biologics would run a Phase 3 trial in Saudi Arabia. The company is in negotiations with other countries for more trials.