A look at COVID-19 vaccine development, 2019-2021
By VICTORIA JOHNSON
COVID-19 VACCINE TIMELINE
Editor’s note: Here’s a timeline of major COVID-19 vaccine-related events, dating back to the first report in late 2019 to the World Health Organization of a mysterious illness in Wuhan, China.
Nov. 17, 2019: A March 2020 article from the South China Morning Post used Chinese government data to trace the first known case of COVID-19 in China back to this date.
Dec. 31, 2019: Chinese health officials inform the World Health Organization of more than 40 patients with a mysterious pneumonia-like illness; most are connected to Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China.
Jan. 7, 2020: Chinese authorities identify the virus behind the mysterious illness as a new, or “novel,” type of coronavirus.
Jan. 13: Moderna, an American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, announces plans to develop and test a COVID-19 vaccine.
Jan. 21: The CDC confirmed the United States’ first confirmed case of COVID-19. A Washington State resident tested positive for the virus shortly after returning home from Wuhan.
March 6: Chatham County announces its first case of coronavirus, which is also the state’s second confirmed case — the first appearing in Wake County on March 3. The cases were linked to outbreaks in Italy and in a Washington long-term care facility, respectively.
March 10: Gov. Roy Cooper declared a State of Emergency in North Carolina in response to increasing numbers of coronavirus cases in the state.
March 11: The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
March 13: The United States declared a national emergency in response to increasing cases of COVID-19.
March 16: Phase 1 clinical trials of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine begin.
March 17: Pfizer, an American pharmaceutical company, and BioNTech, a German biotechnology company, announced they had partnered to develop a COVID-19 vaccine using BioNTech’s technology. Testing begins in Germany. The same day, Chatham County declared its own State of Emergency.
March 30: Johnson & Johnson announces a lead COVID-19 vaccine candidate, which they planned to develop in partnership with Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). According to Johnson & Johnson’s press release, their COVID-19 vaccine development research began in January.
May 5: The first U.S. participant receives a dose of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine in a Phase 1 trial.
June 10: Johnson & Johnson announced it would begin COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials in July.
July 22: The U.S. government agrees to pay Pfizer and BioNTech $1.95 billion for 100 million vaccine doses, with an option to buy an additional 500 million.
July 27: Pfizer and Moderna begin their Phase 3 clinical trials for their COVID-19 vaccines.
Aug. 5: The U.S. government agrees to pay Johnson & Johnson over $1 billion to acquire 100 million doses of its vaccine, with an option to buy an additional 200 million.
Aug. 11: The U.S. government agrees to pay Moderna over $1.5 billion to acquire 100 million doses of its vaccine, with an option to buy an additional 400 million.
Sept. 23: Johnson & Johnson announces the start of a Phase 3 trial for its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine.
Nov. 9: Pfizer reports that its preliminary Phase 3 trial data shows that its COVID-19 vaccine is more than 90% effective — which later increases to 95%.
Nov. 16: Initial data from Moderna’s Phase 3 trial shows its vaccine is 94.5% effective.
Dec. 11: Pfizer’s vaccine becomes the first COVID-19 vaccine authorized in the U.S. after the FDA granted it Emergency Use Authorization.
Dec. 14: The U.S. begins to distribute Pfizer vaccine doses to health care workers. North Carolina health care workers receive their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. The week of Dec. 14, 708 people received the vaccine in Chatham County; overall in North Carolina, more than 20,000 received the first dose.
Dec. 16: Chatham Hospital’s Dr. Jesus Ruiz receives the first COVID-19 vaccine dose in Chatham County. In total, 25 medical workers in Chatham County received shots.
Dec. 18: The FDA grants Emergency Use Authorization for Moderna’s vaccine.
Dec. 30: More than 63,000 people had received their first COVID-19 vaccine doses in North Carolina. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) updated its vaccine prioritization data in response to new CDC recommendations. These were the updated guidelines:
PPHASE 1A: Health care workers fighting COVID-19, plus long-term care staff and residents (then ongoing).
PPHASE 1B: Adults 75 years or older and frontline essential workers, in this order:
GGROUP 1: Anyone 75 years or older.
GGROUP 2: Health care workers and frontline essential workers 50 years or older. Frontline workers, according to the CDC, included first responders, corrections officers, food workers, USPS workers, industrial workers, education workers, etc.
GGROUP 3: All remaining health care workers and frontline essential workers.
PPHASE 2: Adults at high risk for exposure and at increased risk of severe illness, in this order:
GGROUP 1: Anyone age 65 to 74.
GGROUP 2: Anyone age 16 to 64 years old with high-risk medical conditions, including cancer, COPD, serious heart conditions, sickle cell disease, Type 2 diabetes.
GGROUP 3: Prisoners and anyone else living in close group settings.
GGROUP 4: Essential workers who haven’t yet been vaccinated.
PPHASE 3: Students, including college students and K-12 students aged 16 and older.
PPHASE 4: Everyone else.
Jan. 5, 2021: CDC data ranked North Carolina as 44th in the nation for vaccines administered per capita, right behind South Carolina.
Jan. 9: North Carolina reached its highest single-day case number at the time, with 11,581 new infections reported.
Jan. 10: Chatham County reported its then-highest single-day positive test number: 36.
Jan. 11: More than 1,500 individuals had registered with CCPHD to receive the vaccine.
Jan. 12: Nearly 1,600 Chatham County residents overall had received their first vaccine dose; likewise, nearly 174,000 North Carolinians had received their first doses and over 20,000 had received both, per the state’s dashboard. The Trump administration issued new guidelines expanding vaccine eligibility to all Americans aged 65 and older.
Jan. 14: North Carolina followed suit, changing its prioritization guidelines to allow those 65 years and older to receive the vaccine. Before, only those aged 75 and older or those in Phase 1a were eligible to receive a vaccine. Chatham County’s health department swiftly adopted these new guidelines.
GGROUP 1: Health care workers fighting COVID-19, plus long-term care staff and residents (then ongoing).
GGROUP 2: Adults aged 65 and older.
GGROUP 3: All remaining health care workers and frontline essential workers.
GGROUP 3: Frontline essential workers, which include first responders, corrections officers, food workers, USPS workers, industrial workers, education workers, etc.
GGROUP 4: Adults at high risk for exposure and at increased risk of severe illness, in this order:
AAnyone aged 16 to 64 years old with high-risk medical conditions, including cancer, COPD, serious heart conditions, sickle cell disease, Type 2 diabetes.
PPrisoners and anyone else living in close group settings.
EEssential workers who haven’t yet been vaccinated.
GGROUP 5: Everyone else.
Jan. 18: The Chatham County Public Health Department (CCPHD) and several community partners vaccinated 400 people against COVID-19 at the Chatham County Agriculture and Conference Center in Pittsboro — which up to then qualified as Chatham’s largest mass vaccination clinic. Most of those vaccinated were 75 years or older. Chatham Hospital’s Chief Medical Officer Andrew Hannapel told the News & Record that Chatham Hospital had vaccinated 1,250 the week before; he also said that the hospital’s clinic had been expanding to handle up to 250 vaccinations per day.
Jan. 22: More than 15,000 people had signed up to get vaccinated in Chatham County, far outstripping its supply. According to the CDC’s data tracker, North Carolina had ranked 43rd out of 50 states for vaccines administered per capita.
Jan. 25: CCPHD and others carried out another mass vaccination clinic at the Chatham County Agriculture and Conference Center in Pittsboro, vaccinating another 407 people. As of this date, CCPHD had received nearly 17,000 vaccination requests, including almost 11,000 from those in Groups 1 and 2, via its Vaccine Information Tool. CCPHD had distributed more than 1,300 vaccine doses.
Jan. 27: Per the NCDHHS vaccination dashboard, 8,575 Chatham residents had received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. More than 822,000 North Carolinians had received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Jan. 28: The CDC ranked North Carolina 12th in the U.S. in the rate of first doses administered.
Jan. 29: The CCPHD reported that it had begun administering second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to people who received their first doses four weeks ago. According to a county news release, “the CCPHD is slated to receive a weekly base allocation of 200 first doses over the next three weeks.” Johnson & Johnson announced that its COVID-19 vaccine is 66% effective in preventing COVID-19 infections and 85% effective in preventing severe illness, based on data from its Phase 3 trial.
Feb. 1: The CCPHD vaccinated 210 people (first doses only) at a mass vaccination event at Chatham County Agriculture & Conference Center in Pittsboro.
Feb. 2: Chatham County has had 3,751 cases of COVID-19 and 70 deaths, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard. As of Jan. 31, North Carolina has distributed over 1 million vaccine doses, both first and second doses; just over 11,000 Chatham residents have been vaccinated against COVID-19, a number that includes both first and second doses.
