Researchers around the world are developing more than 165 vaccines against the coronavirus, and 27 vaccines are in human trials. Vaccines typically require years of research and testing before reaching the clinic, but scientists are racing to produce a safe and effective vaccine by next year.
Here is the status of all the vaccines that have reached trials in humans, along with a selection of promising vaccines still being tested in cells or animals.
For an overview of different Covid-19 treatments, see our Coronavirus Drug and Treatment Tracker.
The development cycle of a vaccine, from lab to clinic.
PRECLINICAL TESTING: Scientists give the vaccine to animals such as mice or monkeys to see if it produces an immune response.
PHASE I SAFETY TRIALS: Scientists give the vaccine to a small number of people to test safety and dosage as well as to confirm that it stimulates the immune system.
PHASE II EXPANDED TRIALS: Scientists give the vaccine to hundreds of people split into groups, such as children and the elderly, to see if the vaccine acts differently in them. These trials further test the vaccine's safety and ability to stimulate the immune system.
PHASE III EFFICACY TRIALS: Scientists give the vaccine to thousands of people and wait to see how many become infected, compared with volunteers who received a placebo. These trials can determine if the vaccine protects against the coronavirus. In June, the F.D.A. said that a coronavirus vaccine would have to protect at least 50% of vaccinated people to be considered effective.
APPROVAL: Regulators in each country review the trial results and decide whether to approve the vaccine or not. During a pandemic, a vaccine may receive emergency use authorization before getting formal approval.
WARP SPEED: The U.S. government's Operation Warp Speed program is expected to name five or more vaccine projects to receive billions of dollars in federal funding before there's proof that the vaccines work. We will update the tracker and label the Warp Speed projects when there is an official announcement.
COMBINED PHASES: Another way to accelerate vaccine development is to combine phases. Some coronavirus vaccines are now in Phase I/II trials, for example, in which they are tested for the first time on hundreds of people. (Note that our tracker would count a combined Phase I/II trial as both Phase I and Phase II.)
Vaccines that use one or more of the coronavirus's own genes to provoke an immune response.
Moderna develops vaccines based on messenger RNA (mRNA) to produce viral proteins in the body. They have yet to bring one to the market. In March, the company put the first Covid-19 vaccine into human trials, in partnership with the National Institutes of Health. The trials yielded promising results, after which Moderna and N.I.H. researchers carried out a Phase II study before launching a Phase III trial on July 27. The final trial will enroll 30,000 healthy people at about 89 sites around the United States. The government has bankrolled Moderna's efforts with nearly $1 billion in support.
The German company
BioNTech has entered into collaborations with Pfizer, based in New York, and the Chinese drug maker Fosun Pharma to develop their mRNA vaccine. In July, they posted preliminary results from their Phase I/II trials in the United States and Germany. They found that the volunteers produced antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, as well as immune cells called T cells that respond to the virus. Some volunteers experienced moderate side effects such as sleep disturbances and sore arms. On July 27, they announced the launch of a Phase II/III trial with 30,000 volunteers in the United States and other countries including Argentina, Brazil, and Germany.
The Trump administration awarded a $1.9 billion contract for 100 million doses to be delivered by December and the option to acquire 500 million more doses. If approved, Pfizer said they expect to manufacture over 1.3 billion doses of their vaccine worldwide by the end of 2021.
Imperial College London researchers have developed a "self-amplifying" RNA vaccine, which boosts production of a viral protein to stimulate the immune system. They began Phase I/II trials on June 15 and have partnered with Morningside Ventures to manufacture and distribute the vaccine through a new company called VacEquity Global Health. The researchers expect to know if the vaccine is effective by the end of the year.
Indian vaccine-maker
Zydus Cadila has created a DNA-based vaccine. On July 3 they announced approval to start human trials, becoming the second company in India to enter the Covid-19 vaccine race after Bharat Biotech.
On June 30, the Japanese biotechnology company
AnGes announced they had started safety trials on a DNA-based vaccine, developed in partnership with Osaka University and Takara Bio.
The California-based company
Arcturus Therapeutics and Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore have developed an mRNA vaccine. The "self-replicating" design of the molecules in the vaccine led to strong immune responses in animal experiments. On July 21, Singapore approved their application for a Phase I/II trial in humans.
On June 30, the American company
Inovio announced they had interim Phase I data on their DNA-based vaccine. They found no serious adverse effects, and measured an immune response in 34 out of 36 volunteers. They plan to start Phase II/III trials this summer.
PHASE I In March, the Trump administration unsuccessfully tried to entice
CureVac to move its research from Germany to the United States. In June, the company launched Phase I trials of its mRNA vaccine. The company said its German facility can make hundreds of millions of vaccine doses a year.
PHASE I The Korean company
Genexine started testing the safety of a DNA-based vaccine in June. They anticipate moving to Phase II trials in the fall.
Military Medical Sciences, Suzhou Abogen Biosciences
In June, Chinese researchers at the
Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Suzhou Abogen Biosciences and Walvax Biotechnology announced they would start their country's first safety trials on a mRNA-based vaccine, called ARCoV. Earlier studies on monkeys reportedly showed protective effects.
PRECLINICAL
The French pharmaceutical company
Sanofi is developing an mRNA vaccine in partnership with Translate Bio. On June 23, they announced they were planning Phase I trials in the fall.
Vaccines that use a virus to deliver coronavirus genes into cells and provoke an immune response.
A
vaccine in development by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford is based on a chimpanzee adenovirus called ChAdOx1. Their Phase I/II trial, reported on July 20 in the journal Lancet, found that the vaccine was safe, causing no severe side effects. It raised antibodies against the coronavirus as well as other immune defenses. The vaccine is now in a Phase II/III trial in England, as well as Phase III trials in Brazil and South Africa. The project may deliver emergency vaccines by October. AstraZeneca has said their total manufacturing capacity for the vaccine, if approved, stands at two billion doses.
The Chinese company
CanSino Biologics developed a vaccine based on an adenovirus called Ad5, in partnership with the Institute of Biology at the country's Academy of Military Medical Sciences. In May, they published promising results from a Phase I safety trial, and in July they reported that their Phase II trials demonstrated the vaccine produced a strong immune response. In an unprecedented move, the Chinese military approved the vaccine on June 25 for a year as a "specially needed drug." CanSino would not say whether vaccination would be mandatory or optional for soldiers.
A decade ago, researchers at
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston developed a method for making vaccines out of a virus called Adenovirus 26, or Ad26 for short. Johnson & Johnson developed vaccines for Ebola and other diseases with Ad26 and have now made one for the coronavirus. In March they received $456 million from the United States government to support their move towards production. Johnson & Johnson launched Phase I/II trials in July, with hopes of making up to a billion doses in 2021.
PRECLINICAL
The Swiss company
Novartis will manufacture a vaccine based on a gene therapy treatment developed by the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Hospital. A virus called an adeno-associated virus delivers coronavirus gene fragments into cells. Phase I trials are set to begin in late 2020.
PRECLINICAL
The American company
Merck announced in May it would develop a vaccine from vesicular stomatitis viruses, the same approach it successfully used to produce the only approved vaccine for Ebola. The company is partnering with IAVI and has received $38 million in support from the United States government.
PRECLINICAL
Merck is also working with Themis Bioscience, an Austrian firm it is acquiring, to develop a second vaccine, which will use the measles virus to carry genetic material into patients' cells.
PRECLINICAL
Vaxart's vaccine is an oral tablet containing an adenovirus that delivers coronavirus genes. They are preparing for Phase I trials this summer.
Vaccines that use a coronavirus protein or a protein fragment to provoke an immune response.
In July, the Chinese company
Anhui Zhifei Longcom began Phase II trials for a vaccine that is a combination of viral proteins and an adjuvant that stimulates the immune system. The company is part of Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products and has partnered with the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.
Clover Biopharmaceuticals has developed a vaccine containing a protein from coronaviruses. To further stimulate the immune system, the vaccine is being given in conjunction with so-called adjuvants made by British drugmaker GSK and the American company Dynavax. Investments from CEPI will support the development of manufacturing that could lead to the production of hundreds of millions of doses a year.
PHASE I The Australian company
Vaxine launched a Phase I trial in July. Their vaccine combines viral proteins with an adjuvant that stimulates immune cells.
PHASE I Canada-based
Medicago, partly funded by the cigarette maker Philip Morris, uses a species of tobacco to make vaccines. They deliver virus genes into leaves, and the plant cells then create protein shells that mimic viruses. In July, Medicago launched Phase I trials on a plant-based Covid-19 vaccine in combination with adjuvants from drug makers and . If the trial goes well, they plan to start Phase II/III trials in October.
A vaccine from Australia's
University of Queensland delivers viral proteins altered to draw a stronger immune response. The university launched Phase I trials in July, combining the proteins with an adjuvant made by CSL. If the results are positive, CSL will advance late stage clinical trials and expects to make tens of millions of doses.
A second tobacco-based vaccine is in development at
Kentucky BioProcessing, an American subsidiary of British American Tobacco, the maker of Lucky Strike and other cigarettes. Like Medicago, Kentucky BioProcessing engineers a species of tobacco called Nicotiana benthamiana to make viral proteins. The company previously used this technique to make a drug called Zmapp for Ebola. After preclinical testing in the spring, they registered a Phase I trial for their coronavirus vaccine in July.
PRECLINICAL
After the SARS epidemic in 2002,
Baylor College of Medicine researchers began developing a vaccine that could prevent a new outbreak. Despite promising early results, support for the research disappeared. Because the coronaviruses that cause SARS and Covid-19 are very similar, the researchers are reviving the project in partnership with the Texas Children's Hospital.
PRECLINICAL
A vaccine in development by the
University of Pittsburgh, called PittCoVacc, is a skin patch tipped with 400 tiny needles made of sugar. When placed on the skin, the needles dissolve and deliver virus proteins into the body.
PRECLINICAL
In addition to their mRNA vaccine,
Sanofi is developing a vaccine based on viral proteins. They are producing the proteins with engineered viruses that grow inside insect cells. GSK will supplement these proteins with adjuvants that stimulate the immune system. Sanofi received a grant of $30 million from the United States government in support of the research. In July the drug makers reached an agreement with the British government to provide up to 60 million doses if the vaccine succeeds in trials. Sanofi has said it could potentially produce at least 600 million doses a year.
Vaccines that use a weakened or inactivated version of the coronavirus to provoke an immune response.
After finding that an inactivated virus vaccine was safe and provoked an immune response, the state-owned Chinese company Sinopharm launched Phase III trials in July in the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi's health minister was the first volunteer to be injected, and 15,000 people were scheduled to participate in total. In July, the chairman of Sinopharm told Chinese state media that the vaccine could be ready for public use by the end of the year.
Researchers at the
Institute of Medical Biology at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, which has invented vaccines for polio and hepatitis A, started a Phase II trial of an inactivated virus vaccine in June.
In collaboration with the
Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology, the Indian company Bharat Biotech designed a vaccine called Covaxin based on an inactivated form of the coronavirus. When the company launched Phase I/II trials in July, reports circulated that the vaccine would be ready by August 15. But the C.E.O. of Bharat told reporters it would be available no sooner than early 2021.