As the nation makes the final push this summer to vaccinate as much of the population as possible, the tremendous achievement of pharmaceutical companies Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Johnson & Johnson in developing three effective COVID-19 vaccines cannot be overstated. Emergency use authorization of the vaccines by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration—accomplished in less than a year as part of the federal Operation Warp Speed initiative—hinged on the results of clinical trials, which represent stages of testing on humans. Each phase of a trial requires more and more volunteers for evaluating the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. For Phase III, involving thousands of participants undergoing tests at sites worldwide, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson enlisted Rutgers to conduct the critical trials. To read the full story.