WASHINGTON - Having a COVID-19 vaccine by January is “a stretch goal,” but the head of the National Institutes of Health is gearing up for a master experiment to rapidly tell if any really work.
At least four or five possible vaccines “look pretty promising” and one or two will be ready to begin large-scale testing by July with others to follow soon, NIH Director Francis Collins told The Associated Press. “Your big challenge now is to go big and everybody is about ready for that.
And we want to be sure that happens in a coordinated way,” Collins said in an interview late Thursday. The NIH in partnership with some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies is creating a master plan that vaccine makers can follow.