--- title: Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine Moves to Phase 2 Tests description: In addition, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave fast-track approval for Moderna's coronavirus vaccine, referred to as mRNA-1273. canonical: https://time.com/5835785/moderna-coronavirus-vaccine-phase-2/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-05-12T19:20:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T08:44:15.640Z article:section: Health og:title: Vaccine Maker Moderna Moves to Next Phase of Testing og:description: In addition, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave fast-track approval for Moderna's coronavirus vaccine, referred to as mRNA-1273. og:url: https://time.com/5835785/moderna-coronavirus-vaccine-phase-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6bc8c3c6eab3803/698a0dfbb3fce38c910c6b7b/moderna-headquarters.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Massachusetts Based Biotech Company Moderna Receives FDA Approval To Continue Coronavirus Vaccine Trials og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Vaccine Maker Moderna Moves to Next Phase of Testing twitter:description: In addition, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave fast-track approval for Moderna's coronavirus vaccine, referred to as mRNA-1273. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6bc8c3c6eab3803/698a0dfbb3fce38c910c6b7b/moderna-headquarters.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine Moves to Phase 2 Testing, and Gets Fast-Track Approval From the U.S. Government > Sponsored content. 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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=e2f69eab-392a-4587-affa-572d911b83e3&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1)  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent May 12, 2020 7:20 PM UTC  Moderna headquarters on May 8, 2020 in Cambridge, Mass. Moderna headquarters on May 8, 2020 in Cambridge, Mass. Maddie Meyer—Getty Images  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent May 12, 2020 7:20 PM UTC On May 12, Moderna Therapeutics, based in Cambridge, Mass., received [fast-track approval](https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/moderna-receives-fda-fast-track-designation-mrna-vaccine-mrna) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273\. Days earlier, the FDA gave the company the green light to [proceed to Phase 2 testing](https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/moderna-receives-fda-fast-track-designation-mrna-vaccine-mrna) of the vaccine, which is expected to begin shortly. The company plans to launch the final stage of human testing, Phase 3, this summer, assuming the Phase 2 studies are complete, says Dr. Stephen Hoge, president of Moderna. Fast-track designation boils down to a more expedited review process by the FDA. In particular, it means the agency can review data on a rolling basis so an entire application for approval isn’t held up until the final piece of data is collected and analyzed. “It’s validation that the FDA believes this is a very credible exercise,” says Hoge. The Phase 2 studies will include around 600 healthy volunteers, half of whom are 18-55 years old and half of whom are over 55 years old. They will be randomly assigned to receive either placebo or one of two doses of Moderna’s experimental vaccine. Each participant will receive two shots—early studies suggest two injections might be necessary to jump-start the immune system to generate protection against the COVID-19 virus. All the patients will then be followed for a year as the researchers monitor their immune responses. Already, Moderna is thinking ahead towards the next steps should its vaccine receive FDA approval. “We have not hit major speed bumps or road blocks, so it’s been good so far,” says Hoge of developing and testing the vaccine. “But now as the data develops, we need to show that we can manufacture at scale, and we’re doing all we can to scale up to supply tens of millions of doses by the end of this year.” Moderna’s vaccine relies on a relatively new technology based on the mRNA of the virus; it involves injecting fragments of the viral genetic material into the body, which then stimulates the body’s immune system to fight the novel coronavirus. Public health experts anticipate that the COVID-19 virus won’t dissipate any time soon, and believe that generating strong and widespread immunity to the virus, with the help of vaccines, will be essential in keeping the disease under control and reopening economies around the world. Currently, there are around eight vaccines being tested in people, using different technologies. Public health experts believe that multiple vaccines may be needed in order to meet global demand to immunize and protect as many people as possible from COVID-19 in coming years. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5835785/moderna-coronavirus-vaccine-phase-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5835785/moderna-coronavirus-vaccine-phase-2/"},"headline":"Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine Moves to Phase 2 Testing, and Gets Fast-Track Approval From the U.S. Government","datePublished":"2020-05-12T19:20:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T08:44:15.640Z","description":"The FDA gave Moderna the go-ahead to test its vaccine candidate in hundreds of people","url":"https://time.com/5835785/moderna-coronavirus-vaccine-phase-2/","keywords":["COVID-19"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte6bc8c3c6eab3803/698a0dfbb3fce38c910c6b7b/moderna-headquarters.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/blte6bc8c3c6eab3803/698a0dfbb3fce38c910c6b7b/moderna-headquarters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Massachusetts Based Biotech Company Moderna Receives FDA Approval To Continue Coronavirus Vaccine Trials","caption":"Massachusetts Based Biotech Company Moderna Receives FDA Approval To Continue Coronavirus Vaccine Trials","creditText":"Maddie Meyer—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":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5835785/moderna-coronavirus-vaccine-phase-2/","name":"Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine Moves to Phase 2 Testing, and Gets Fast-Track Approval From the U.S. Government"}}]}] ```