Operation Warp Speed Program Selects Five Companies Most Likely to Deliver a COVID-19 Vaccine
Operation Warp Speed, a national program created by the Trump administration to accelerate the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, selected five companies it believes are most likely to deliver a vaccine for the coronavirus.
The five finalists, chosen from a pool of around a dozen companies, are:
- AstraZeneca
- Merck
- Pfizer
- Johnson & Johnson
- Moderna
They will receive additional government funding, clinical trial assistance and manufacturing help for their vaccine program.
Moderna and AstraZeneca's vaccine candidates are in phase II and phase II/III of clinical trials, meaning that they are already being tested on humans. Johnson & Johnson is expected to begin human clinical trials in September, and Merck is still in pre-clinical development for its vaccine. Pfizer is working in collaboration with a German biotech company with four vaccine candidates in phase I/II.