Biotech company Moderna says it has developed the first vaccine for the new coronavirus outbreak. The Massachusetts’ company has sent its COVID-19 vaccine to government officials for human testing. The first clinical tests are expected to begin in April and the results should be available in July or August. The company’s stock price jumped 15% on the news.
Shares in Moderna soared 15.6% after the Boston-based biotech start-up become the first to release a potential coronavirus vaccine https://t.co/fasjBe0aSJ
— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) February 25, 2020
The Trump administration is asking Congress for $2.5 billion-dollars to deal with the coronavirus. More than a billion-dollars of that would go to developing a vaccine. Meanwhile, World Health Experts warn the coronavirus may be approaching pandemic levels as cases outside of mainland China continue to grow especially in Italy, South Korea and Iran. The number of reported cases has surged past 80-thousand, most in China, with the death toll reaching nearly 27-hundred.