Johnson & Johnson plans to start testing the company’s experimental Covid-19 vaccine in youths aged 12 to 18 as soon as possible, a company executive said at a meeting held by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Leading pharmaceutical companies – including Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca – are racing ahead to develop and distribute a Covid-19 vaccine.

Pfizer indicated that the company’s Phase III clinical trial of 44,000 volunteers with partner BioNTech needed less than 2,000 people to be fully enrolled.

Federal health regulators decided to allow the resumption of the U.S. trial of a leading Covid-19 vaccine candidate from AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the matter and materials reviewed by it.

The U.S. health regulator’s criteria for allowing emergency use of a Covid-19 vaccine and plans to monitor its safety after a regulatory go-ahead are among the topics to be discussed at a closely watched meeting.

Moderna

Moderna Inc. Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Bancel expects interim results from the company’s Covid-19 vaccine trial in November and that the U.S government could give an emergency use nod in December, the Wall Street Journal reported.