Volunteer gets first dose in COVID-19 vaccine test in US

This vaccine candidate, code-named mRNA-1273, was developed by the NIH and Massachusetts-based biotechnology company Moderna Inc. There's no chance that participants could get infected from the shots because they don't contain the coronavirus itself.

Seattle: US researchers gave the first shot to the first person in a test of an experimental coronavirus vaccine Monday -- leading off a worldwide hunt for protection even as the pandemic surges.With a careful jab in a healthy volunteer's arm, scientists at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute in Seattle begin an anxiously awaited first-stage study of a potential COVID-19 vaccine developed in record time after the new virus exploded from China and fanned across the globe.

"These are people who are volunteering to be in a trial for a vaccine that's never been given to humans before," Kaiser Permanente study leader Dr. Lisa Jackson said on the eve of the experiment.

Monday's milestone marked just the beginning of a series of studies in people needed to prove whether the shots are safe and could work. Even if the research goes well, a vaccine wouldn't be available for widespread use for 12 to 18 months, said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. That's still important if the virus becomes a long-term threat.

This vaccine candidate, code-named mRNA-1273, was developed by the NIH and Massachusetts-based biotechnology company Moderna Inc. There's no chance that participants could get infected from the shots because they don't contain the coronavirus itself.

It's not the only potential vaccine in the pipeline. Dozens of research groups around the world are racing to create a vaccine against COVID-19. Another candidate, made by Inovio Pharmaceuticals, is expected to begin its own safety study -- in the U.S., China and South Korea -- next month.

The Seattle experiment got underway days after the World Health Organization declared the new virus outbreak a pandemic because of its rapid global spread, infecting more than 169,000 people and killing more than 6,500.

Starting what scientists call a first-in-humans study is a momentous occasion for scientists, but Jackson described her team's mood as "subdued." They've been working round-the-clock readying the research in a part of the U.S. struck early and hard by the virus.

With inputs from AP