--- title: COVID-19 Vaccine Shipped, and Drug Trials Start description: A vaccine and a drug against COVID-19 are closer to human testing canonical: https://time.com/5790545/first-covid-19-vaccine/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-02-25T21:37:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T08:53:52.896Z article:section: Health og:title: COVID-19 Vaccine Shipped, and Drug Trials Start og:description: A vaccine and a drug against COVID-19 are closer to human testing og:url: https://time.com/5790545/first-covid-19-vaccine/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0f2b0ed4b4abcb06/698a0aaa929fadfaeabf5bd9/GettyImages-1203771991.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6500 og:image:height: 3656 og:image:alt: Coronavirus 2019-nCoV spreading og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: COVID-19 Vaccine Shipped, and Drug Trials Start twitter:description: A vaccine and a drug against COVID-19 are closer to human testing twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0f2b0ed4b4abcb06/698a0aaa929fadfaeabf5bd9/GettyImages-1203771991.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 02:16 video:published: 2020-01-31 section: health topics: coronavirus vaccine, mRNA vaccine technology, Moderna Therapeutics, National Institutes of Health, viral sequencing, vaccine production scaling, pandemic preparedness, clinical trials, animal-to-human disease transmission genre: news, explainer tones: urgent, informative, hopeful, measured emotions: urgency (high), hope (medium), concern (medium) sentiment: neutral audience: general news audience, health-interested readers, science enthusiasts, policymakers people: Moderna scientist (unnamed), interviewer (unnamed) organizations: Moderna Therapeutics, National Institutes of Health, Vaccines Research Center at NIH, Chinese government products: coronavirus vaccine, mRNA vaccine content_suitability: health controversy [00:00-02:16] transcript_source: automatic transcription transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # COVID-19 Vaccine Shipped, and Drug Trials Start > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=329558f8-51b4-4162-9643-120f5cdd0bca&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Racing To Make A Coronavirus Vaccine [Watch (HLS stream): Racing To Make A Coronavirus Vaccine](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DC80edSm.m3u8) (2:16)  _Published 2020-01-31. Scientists at Moderna Theraputics and the NIH are racing to create the world's first coronavirus vaccine in record time._ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary Scientists at Moderna Therapeutics and the National Institutes of Health are racing to develop a coronavirus vaccine after the virus was sequenced and shared. The video explains that Moderna uses mRNA to produce the target protein instead of growing large amounts of the virus, as traditional methods require. The team aims to reach human clinical study within three months and discusses scaling production to thousands or millions of doses. The speakers also note that similar fast vaccine development may be needed for future pandemics. ## Key points - The novel coronavirus was identified and its sequence shared with the world after the Chinese government sequenced the virus less than a month earlier. (00:17) - Moderna and NIH's Vaccines Research Center downloaded the sequence data and began identifying key surface proteins that a vaccine could target. (00:28) - The team aims to get the vaccine into humans and a clinical study within three months. (00:28) - Moderna is producing mRNA that makes the protein intended to form the basis of the coronavirus vaccine. (00:44) - Traditional vaccine methods are effective but time-consuming because they require growing large amounts of the virus. (00:55) - Moderna's approach uses viral mRNA, a piece of genetic material that produces proteins, to shorten the vaccine development process. (00:55) - The company believes it can scale quickly to produce thousands, tens of thousands, or even millions of doses if the vaccine proves effective. (01:39) - The speakers expect future pandemic threats to emerge from animals into humans and believe the vaccine may be the only tool to arrest transmission. (01:58) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:17] Coronavirus outbreak and vaccine race. The outbreak is introduced and scientists at Moderna and NIH are described as racing to produce a vaccine. - [00:17 to 00:44] Sequencing and identifying vaccine targets. The process of obtaining the virus sequence and identifying surface proteins for vaccine development is explained. - [00:44 to 01:17] How mRNA vaccine production works. Moderna's mRNA approach is contrasted with traditional vaccine methods and the role of proteins is described. - [01:17 to 01:39] Tight deadline and production plans. The interviewer and guest discuss the deadline and preparations to scale doses, including for a hot spot like Wuhan. - [01:39 to 02:16] Future pandemic preparedness. The speakers discuss scaling to millions of doses and expect similar rapid vaccine efforts for future animal-to-human threats. ## Key quotes - [00:06] interviewer: "scientists at Moderna Therapeutics and the National Institutes of Health are rushing to produce the world's first coronavirus vaccine in record time." - [00:28] Moderna scientist: "And we're racing forward to try and get it into humans and a clinical study within three months." - [00:55] interviewer: "Traditional ways of making vaccines although effective are time and cumbersome because you have to grow large amounts of the virus" - [01:39] Moderna scientist: "We believe we can scale very fast if that is needed." - [01:58] Moderna scientist: "It might be the only tool we have to really arrest that transmission." ## Questions this video answers - Why are scientists racing to produce a coronavirus vaccine? [00:06] - What is the first step after a new virus is identified? [00:17] - How is Moderna's vaccine approach different from traditional vaccine methods? [00:55] - What is mRNA and what does it do in these vaccines? [00:55] - How quickly could the vaccine be scaled up to produce doses? [01:39] - Could this approach be used for future pandemics? [01:58] ## Content suitability - health controversy [00:00-02:16]: Discussion of a new outbreak and a potential pandemic threat; no graphic content, but the subject matter is a public health emergency.  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Feb 25, 2020 9:37 PM UTC Scientists at Moderna Theraputics and the NIH are racing to create the world's first coronavirus vaccine in record time.  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Feb 25, 2020 9:37 PM UTC Moderna Therapeutics, a biotech company based in Cambridge, Mass., has shipped the first batches of its COVID-19 vaccine. The [vaccine](https://time.com/5775784/coronavirus-vaccine-research/) was created just 42 days after the genetic sequence of the COVID-19 virus, called SARS-CoV-2, was released by Chinese researchers in mid-January. The [first vials were sent](https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/moderna-ships-mrna-vaccine-against-novel-coronavirus-mrna-1273) to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD, which will ready the vaccine for human testing as early as April. NIH scientists [also began testing an antiviral drug](https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-clinical-trial-remdesivir-treat-covid-19-begins) called remdesivir that had been developed for Ebola, on a patient infected with SARS-CoV-2\. The trial is the first to test a drug for treating COVID-19, and will be led by a team at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The first patient to volunteer for the ground-breaking study is a passenger who was brought back to the US after testing positive for the disease aboard the _Diamond Princess_. Others diagnosed with COVID-19 who have been hospitalized will also be part of the study. _Keep up to date with our daily coronavirus newsletter by clicking_[ _here_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/coronavirus?source=article)_._ Remdesivir showed encouraging results among animals infected with two related coronaviruses, one responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and another for causing Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). Volunteers will be randomly assigned to receive either the drug or a placebo intravenously for 10 days, and they will have blood tests and nose and throat swabs taken every two days to track the amount of virus in their bodies. Even if the drug shows some efficacy in keeping blood levels of SARS-CoV-2 from growing, it could help to contain spread of the infection. [Moderna’s vaccine](https://time.com/5775784/coronavirus-vaccine-research/) against COVID-19 was developed in record time because it’s based on a relatively new genetic method that does not require growing huge amounts of virus. Instead, the vaccine is packed with mRNA, the genetic material that comes from DNA and makes proteins. Moderna loads its vaccine with mRNA that codes for the right coronavirus proteins which then get injected into the body. Immune cells in the lymph nodes can process that mRNA and start making the protein in just the right way for other immune cells to recognize and mark them for destruction. As Dr. Stephen Hoge, president of Moderna, [told TIME](https://time.com/5775784/coronavirus-vaccine-research/) earlier this month, “mRNA is really like a software molecule in biology. So our vaccine is like the software program to the body, which then goes and makes the \[viral\] proteins that can generate an immune response.” That means that this vaccine method can be scaled up quickly, saving critical time when a new disease like COVID-19 emerges and starts infecting tens of thousands of people. _Please send any tips, leads, and stories to_ [_virus@time.com_](mailto:virus@time.com)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5790545/first-covid-19-vaccine/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5790545/first-covid-19-vaccine/"},"headline":"COVID-19 Vaccine Shipped, and Drug Trials Start","datePublished":"2020-02-25T21:37:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-14T08:53:52.896Z","description":"A vaccine and a drug against COVID-19 are closer to human testing","url":"https://time.com/5790545/first-covid-19-vaccine/","keywords":["COVID-19","UnitedWeRise20Disaster"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0f2b0ed4b4abcb06/698a0aaa929fadfaeabf5bd9/GettyImages-1203771991.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0f2b0ed4b4abcb06/698a0aaa929fadfaeabf5bd9/GettyImages-1203771991.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Coronavirus 2019-nCoV spreading","caption":"Coronavirus 2019-nCoV spreading","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5790545/first-covid-19-vaccine/","name":"COVID-19 Vaccine Shipped, and Drug Trials Start"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Racing To Make A Coronavirus Vaccine","description":"Scientists at Moderna Theraputics and the NIH are racing to create the world's first coronavirus vaccine in record time.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/DC80edSm/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2020-01-31T23:05:24.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DC80edSm.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5790545/first-covid-19-vaccine/","duration":"PT2M16S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5790545/first-covid-19-vaccine/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```