ABC News Prime: Vaccine Watch

ABC News – August 5, 2020

Dan Barouch, MD, PhD (Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, BIDMC) and colleagues are developing a leading candidate COVID-19 vaccine, in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson.

Additional Coverage: Fox Business – J&J reaches $1B deal with US for COVID-19 vaccine, 100M experimental doses

Transcript for Vaccine Watch: Inside Johnson & Johnson Now to the latest developments in the race for a vaccine Johnson & Johnson announcing today it has reached a one billion dollar deal with the federal government to mass produce 100 million doses of their vaccine candidate if it’s proven safe and effective. And this week they’re scientists took our camera inside the lab here’s ABC’s Bob Woodruff with our vaccine watch. And volatile and here in any talk to one of the doctors. Who is. And the front of the line in terms of creating. Yeah there’s some reason. This week we got a firsthand look inside this lab in Boston they’ll only go into this room. Home to the science is developing a possible cove in nineteen vaccine for the all American pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson. This is a one type of antibody test. Or is seeing some nice responses. And these plates suspect but this is that this is without a vaccine and within vaccine. He conceded there’s a lot more collar the collar signifies anti this is a actual starent we didn’t now is the answer was going to be. Until just now right now. This is good this is this is not stage that is the good news it is good it. About partly hidden. Jess last week the company announced that not only does their vaccine work on monkeys. But it was accomplished with a single dose after one shot we showed that they were high tigers of neutralizing antibodies. And that following exposure to cove in nineteen the monkeys were protected and Wear protective very well. Shortly after their announcement they’ve begun early human trials. If you prove that works fine on a monkey. What’s the chances of it working for the him that’s a very question. I would say that if that vaccine works well in monkeys he would certainly increase our optimism. That the vaccine will work in humans many other vaccines currently in the works could require people to get more than one injection we just imagine. How much more conveniently before you were right to go to our local doctor to get one shot and you’re done. Of course the vaccine is still in early stages of development and we don’t yet know if any number of doses will be safe for effective on humans. But doctor Farooq. Has been studying vaccine development for nearly two decades battling infectious diseases like HIV ends eco so one Covert nineteen began to spread. He soon realized this virus was different from the very early case reports. That we were reviewing on January 10. We thought that this had the potential to cause a pandemic and we discussed the potential need for a vaccine that evening. After we all gone home sitting on our own computers to me now and then the sequence. The novel krona virus was posted online. Buying the Chinese researchers they realize the sequence was similar to other viruses they fought before there’s a lot that is the same and there are some differences. Despite protein was easily identifiable. Then he was very clear and that will be the target of an accident rarely have so many scientists collaborated to find a vaccine for a single virus can. I haven’t taken a single day off. Since January. Johnson & Johnson is one of a handful of US companies chosen by the government. For its so called operation warp speed but they are only in the early phases of human trials. Pfizer in the Dern I’m began late stage human trials just last week. What what it’s you. All behind a little bit if you’re just now coming up when the results back from. The monkey tests instead of the human tests that are starter but this. This to other companies manufacturing. And add 26 spektr’s takes a little bit more time but the good news is that once clinical trials are under way. The manufacturing. The mass production and can go very quickly our hope is to DNA phase three efficacy trial in September of this here. Have there been any kind of effects on humans are detectable so far so good this is Bob Woodruff tracking the race for a vaccine.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.