The Coronavirus Vaccine Horse-race: 7 Leading Contenders

These are the vaccines in Phase 3 Trials. One may end the pandemic.

The vaccines are coming. That statement can be said with only a modest amount of uncertainty, with more than 200 vaccine candidates in the pipeline and 7 in phase 3 trials, we are in good shape to have a vaccine to help us in the fight against COVID-19.

But when are they coming?

The CDC has asked localities to prepare for COVID-19 vaccination to begin by November 1st. That’s about 45 days away from now and just 2 days before election day. This, despite the fact that we haven’t even seen interim results from any of the ongoing trials.

Which led me to ask the question — if we are going to be vaccinating people before 2021, which vaccine will it be? So, without further ado, I am going to give you a whirlwind tour through the 7 vaccines currently in Phase 3 trials. If there’s going to be a winner, here are the horses to bet on.

Let’s start with the shiny objects — two companies, Pfizer and Moderna are betting on something different — an RNA vaccine.