Coronavirus: Company says it has shipped experimental vaccine for testing

A biotech firm has been working on a vaccine to combat COVID-19, or coronavirus, and it has developed a treatment that is ready for testing.

Moderna has been working on the vaccination for about six weeks and has shipped the experimental treatment to US government researchers for testing, CNN reported.

But while Moderna has done its work, the testing and potential approval of mRNA-1273 will take at least a year.

First, a small number of healthy humans could get the vaccine in two doses by the end of April, The Wall Street Journal reported.

About 45 people could take part in the first clinical trial, CNN reported.

But more testing and approvals would still be needed if the first clinical trials were successful.

The government process could be sped up, but a vaccine still wouldn’t be ready for the masses for at least a year to 18 months, CNN reported.

Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline and the government itself are also working on potential vaccines.

Cox Media Group