Of the more than 100 COVID-19 vaccines in development globally, at least eight have started testing in humans, including Moderna Inc.’s candidate, which is among the most advanced.

The drugmaker launched human trials in April and announced today that the experimental vaccine induced positive immune responses, indicating potential for the vaccine to prevent COVID-19 in humans.

Just days before this milestone moment in the race for a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, Moncef Slaoui stepped down from Moderna’s board of directors to become chief scientist for Operation Warp Speed, a White House initiative announced last week.

Operation Warp Speed aims to make 100 million doses of a vaccine against COVID-19 available by November by selecting a set of six or eight vaccine candidates to fast-track. 

In other vaccine news, Chinese hackers target US coronavirus researchers, anti-vaxxers gain momentum and the ousted head of the Biomedical Advance Research and Development Authority (BARDA), Dr. Rick Bright, forecasts a dark winter ahead. 

Dive deeper into the vaccine landscape in GPG’s new Back to Work analysis.