41% of COVID Vaccines Registered with US NIH Are in Phase 3 Trials...Mass Release Expected in 1Q Next Year

44 of 107 Cases Registered with US National Institutes of Health in Phase 3 Clinical Trials
US Daily Average COVID-19 Cases Exceed 100,000 for 2 Consecutive Weeks
Brazil COVID-19 Reproduction Number Exceeds 1 Again...Resurgence Intensifies

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] It has been revealed that 41% of the global clinical trials for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines are in phase 3. Expectations are rising that vaccine development will become visible by the first quarter of next year at the latest. As the number of infected patients increases worldwide, the transmission speed is accelerating further.

The National Clinical Trial Support Foundation announced on the 18th that, as of the 16th of this month, among the total 1,544 clinical trials registered with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), 107 trials (6.9%) are for vaccines, and 1,437 trials (93.1%) are for therapeutics. The proportion of phase 3 trials, the final stage of vaccine development, was 44 trials (41.1%), while therapeutic clinical trials accounted for 433 trials (30.1%).

The foundation evaluated the interim results of phase 3 clinical trials of the COVID-19 vaccine 'BNT162,' jointly developed by Pfizer (U.S.) and BioNTech (Germany), and 'mRNA-1273,' jointly developed by Moderna (U.S.) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), as very encouraging. In particular, they predicted that the release of the Moderna vaccine is imminent.

Although vaccine development is accelerating, the second wave of COVID-19 is also gaining momentum. In Brazil, the reproduction number, an indicator showing how many people one infected person infects, has risen above 1 again. Local media, citing the UK Imperial College, reported that the number, which had dropped to 0.68 on the 10th, is rising again. S?o Paulo, the Brazilian state with the highest reported COVID-19 damage, announced that from the 8th to the 14th, the average daily number of COVID-19 hospitalizations was 1,009, an increase of about 18% compared to the previous week’s 859.

In the United States, concerns over hospital bed shortages are growing as the daily average number of confirmed cases has exceeded 100,000 for two consecutive weeks. According to Johns Hopkins University's COVID-19 statistics on the 17th (local time), the daily confirmed cases in the U.S. reached 166,045, surpassing 100,000 for two consecutive weeks. Last week, the U.S. recorded an average of 155,000 new cases per day, the highest since the COVID-19 outbreak began. According to CNN, the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations nationwide reached 73,014 on the same day, exceeding the previous record.

As patients overflow, concerns about hospital bed shortages are increasing in each U.S. state. The St. Louis health authorities in Missouri announced a predictive model stating that if the current trend of increasing COVID-19 patients continues, the intensive care unit (ICU) capacity will reach its limit in the first week of December.

Regions with insufficient medical facilities such as Utah, Montana, and North Dakota are also feared to soon reach ICU bed capacity limits.

In the U.S., state governments have begun implementing their own lockdown measures. CNN reported that at least 13 states have announced and started enforcing their own lockdown measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. California, which imposed the strictest lockdown measures, began from this day a top-level lockdown banning indoor operations of restaurants and stores and requiring all workers except essential personnel to work from home. California Governor Gavin Newsom stated when announcing the lockdown measures the day before, "In the worst case, we are considering curfew measures."

In Europe, France became the first European country to surpass 2 million cumulative confirmed cases. According to Johns Hopkins University’s tally on the same day, France recorded a cumulative total of 2,086,815 confirmed cases.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.