Agencies

The US biotech firm Moderna said Tuesday it would enter the final stage of its human trials for its Covid-19 vaccine on July 27, after promising early results were published in a journal.

The Phase 3 trial will recruit 30,000 participants in the US with half to receive the vaccine at 100 microgram dose levels, and the other half will receive a placebo. It is designed to learn whether the vaccine can prevent infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, or, if people still get infected, whether it can prevent the infection from progressing toward symptoms.

If they do get symptoms, the vaccine can still be considered a success if it stops severe cases of Covid-19. The study should run until October 27.