(Potential) COVID-19 Vaccine Found!

Both CNBC and the New York Times broke the news that Moderna, a biotech company from Cambridge, MA, has had encouraging results with their Phase 1 testing of the COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine.

How It Was Tested

Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle conducted the Phase 1 trial with 45 patients. Patients were broken into three groups and would receive either a 25, 100 and 250 micrograms dose of the vaccine. Patients were each given two doses, 28 days apart.

At day 43, or two weeks following the second dose, levels of binding antibodies in the 25 microgram group were at the levels generally seen in blood samples from people who recovered from the disease, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company said. Those in the 100 microgram group had antibodies that “significantly exceeded levels” in recovered patients. Data on a second dose was not available for the 250 microgram group, the Moderna said.

Phase II COVID-19 Coronavirus Trial

Phase II of the trial begins shortly, and following a successful result, Phase III will start in early July. If all goes well, Moderna states the vaccine could be ready by early 2021.

All of this is no doubt encouraging news, and we remain hopeful that this pandemic will be behind us. In the meantime, let’s keep wearing masks, practicing social distancing, washing our hands, and, most importantly, staying alert. Indeed, we’ve all learned (at least a little) how to live with COVID-19.

Is it Time to Start Thinking About Travel Again?

My thoughts are that if you’re in a high risk group, now is probably not the time to be booking any big trips, at least for now. As I’ve been saying all along, 2021 will likely be the year of domestic travel. Considering the financial risks of traveling abroad during a pandemic (Think hospital costs), its probably best to just stay put, for now.

To read the full reports, feel free to check out our sources for the story: CNBC and NYTimes.

Rick