The mRNA itself also generates an immune response. The company started a human Phase 1/2a trial in July in Belgium and the U.S, and it announced this week it is starting a Phase 2 trial in Spain, the Netherlands and Germany. There are more than 160 COVID-19 vaccines in development around the world but only about two dozen are being tested on humans so far, including the four Canada is now in line to buy. A variety of newsletters you'll love, delivered straight to you. “We believe that people have a choice in Canada about whether or not to be vaccinated,” Hajdu said. When the first COVID-19 vaccines become available, there won't be enough for everyone who wants it, both nationally and internationally. For early phase (Phase 1 and 2) clinical trials, NACI recommends prioritizing not just healthy adults, who are typically used to test for safety, but also: For late phase (Phase 3) clinical trials, when safety has already been established and the focus is on efficacy, NACI recommends prioritizing people: The groups that are most vulnerable to COVID-19, including older adults, are a little bit different than they were for flu pandemics such as H1N1 (where pregnant women, infants and young children were most at risk). That's thought to be one of the factors behind severe outbreaks among groups such as migrant farm workers and workers at meat-packing plants. So twice as many people in the first group can be immunized with the same amount of vaccine. Minimize societal disruption, including reducing the burden of health-care resources. Johnson & Johnson and Novavax are both in Phase 2 trials, which are conducted on smaller numbers of volunteers. But the federally recommended priority groups when that vaccine rolled out give a sense of what prioritization for COVID-19 vaccine might look like. CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices. Children under five years of age (but not infants less than six months old.). Protein subunit vaccines don't elicit as strong an immune response as whole virus vaccines, so they often include an adjuvant. She has previously worked as a digital journalist for CBC Ottawa and as an occasional producer at CBC's Quirks & Quarks. "How is that going to weigh in? Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. However, three people in an early-stage trial reportedly had severe or "systemic" adverse reactions, such as high fevers, to a high dose of the vaccine. In this case, the DNA with instructions for making the spike protein is carried into the body by a common cold virus called an adenovirus. He's a professor emeritus at York University and an emergency physician in Toronto who has studied and written about pharmaceutical policy. Novavax uses a proprietary adjuvant called Matrix-M, which is based on a type of compound found in many plants called a saponin. Procurement Minister Anita Anand announced new deals with Maryland-based biotech company Novavax for Canada to buy as many as 76 million doses of its experimental vaccine candidate, and up to 38 million doses of the vaccine in development by Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical company Janssen Inc. But for now, within Canada, who should get it first and how will that be decided? "That's what you have to do.". When the protein particles are injected into the body with an adjuvant — a compound that enhances the body's immune response — the body learns to recognize and fight off the virus. "And therefore we'll have to prioritize.". Household contacts and caregivers of individuals who are at high risk and who cannot be immunized (such as infants under six months of age or people with weakened immune systems). Meanwhile, with a global pandemic that has wreaked havoc on countries' economies and people's lives around the world, there's a lot of demand for a vaccine from the global population of 7.8 billion people. Here’s a closer look. MacDonald is among experts who hope that ultimately, multiple COVID-19 vaccines under development will make it to market and individuals will be able to access the one that's best for them. How close are we to a vaccine for COVID-19? By submitting a comment, you accept that CBC has the right to reproduce and publish that comment in whole or in part, in any manner CBC chooses. However, because it's a virus, it may generate a stronger immune response than the DNA alone and helps get the DNA into human cells, where the spike protein can be produced.