Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) starts a 60,000 person phase-3 trial test. Stage-3 is the final phase.

The Wall Street Journal reports Johnson & Johnson Begins Final-Stage Testing of COVID-19 Vaccine.

Key Details

• J&J aims to enroll adult volunteers in the U.S. and several other countries, including Brazil and South Africa.

• A vaccine that Moderna Inc. codesigned with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases started Phase 3 testing in July and has enrolled nearly 26,000 people toward a goal of 30,000. 

• AstraZeneca (AZN) PLC, which licensed a vaccine from the University of Oxford, started a 30,000-person Phase 3 trial in the U.S. in August but that study is on hold while an independent committee reviews a safety matter.

• Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and partner BioNTech SE also started a Phase 3 trial of their vaccine in July and have enrolled nearly 32,000 toward a goal of 44,000. Interim results of the Moderna and Pfizer studies could come as soon as October, but possibly later, according to company executives.

• J&J’s vaccine is known as a viral vector shot because it uses a modified adenovirus—a virus that can cause the common cold—to deliver genetic instructions teaching the human immune system to build a defense against the coronavirus

The J&J trials begin shortly after the Number of US COVID-19 Deaths topped 200,000. 

Counts are again on the rise nationally and internationally but the death rate is headed the other way.

The number of deaths and cases is very suspect in some countries.