Moderna coronavirus vaccine receives FDA fast-track designation

The biotechnology company Moderna announced Tuesday that the Food and Drug Administration has given them fast-track designation, which is designed to expedite the development of treatments for life-threatening diseases such as COVID-19. 

Last week the company announced they are set to begin a crucial phase three trial of its potential coronavirus vaccine as soon as early summer. 

“Fast Track designation underscores the urgent need for a vaccine against the novel coronavirus,” Moderna CEO Tal Zaks said in a statement.

The Trump administration is pushing to speed up the development of vaccines with its “Operation Warp Speed,” seeking to have millions of doses ready by January, an ambitious timeline that would be significantly faster than any vaccine has been developed before. 

Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and key member of the administration’s coronavirus task force, said early this month that having a vaccine done by then is “doable if things fall in the right place.”