⁍ If all goes well, the first doses of a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine will likely become available to some high-risk Americans in late December or early January.

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⁍ Based on current projections from vaccine front-runners Moderna Inc and Pfizer Inc, Americans will likely know ‘sometime in December whether or not we have a safe and effective vaccine

– The US will likely know “sometime in December whether or not we have a safe and effective vaccine” for coronavirus, which has killed dozens of Americans, by the end of December or the beginning of January, Reuters reports. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says interim results from vaccine trials by Moderna and Pfizer will be released in the “next few weeks.” He says the first doses will likely be given to people most in need “by the end of December or the beginning of January.” Both companies have started the final stage of clinical testing, with tens of thousands of people taking part in each trial. Moderna earlier on Thursday said it was on track to deliver interim data from its large, late-stage trial next month. Pfizer, which was expected to release data before October, is now unlikely to release data before November, probably after the Nov 3 presidential election. The data will then need to be reviewed by the US Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which will make recommendations on who gets the first doses if the trials prove successful. Fauci said the first vaccine doses would likely be deployed to individuals deemed most in need “by the end of December or the beginning of January.” Even with an effective vaccine to protect against the virus, Fauci said it will take time to get back to something approaching normal as vaccine-induced immunity builds both nationally and globally. He said life will likely not get back to normal “until the end of 2021.”