Vaccine trial investigator says results unlikely to come before end of the year

 CNN:

Vaccine trial investigator says results unlikely to come before end of the year

From CNN's Adrienne Vogt

A syringe containing either a vaccine or a placebo is prepared for a participant in a Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial sponsored by Moderna at Accel Research Sites on August 4 in DeLand, Florida. Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Dr. Evan Anderson, principal investigator for the Moderna coronavirus vaccine clinical trial at Emory University, says the trial won’t yield results until after Election Day.

“At this point, it looks very unlikely that we would see any results before late November or December, at best, in my opinion. But it does depend how much Covid-19 is circulating in the community at the time that the study is ongoing,” Anderson said in an interview with CNN's Kate Bolduan. 

Moderna is the first company to begin its phase three clinical trials of a coronavirus vaccine in the US.

Enrollment is increasing rapidly, according to Anderson, and he predicts that full enrollment won’t happen until September.

Anderson said there would need to be studies to look at dosing and responses of children to the vaccine to determine if it is safe for them, and cautions that could “take a while.” 

“I think it would be good to be able to start those studies soon so that we might be able to help protect children from Covid-19, as it is quite clear that they are infected with some frequency and do suffer life-threatening and even fatal events related to Covid-19 and the inflammatory syndrome that occurs afterwards,” he said.