Volunteers in Brazil have begun receiving a trial vaccine against COVID-19, in Latin America’s first phase 3 COVID-19 clinical trial. The trial officially began on Saturday 20th June and will enrol 5,000 volunteers across the country. Vaccinations will take place in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and a site in the Northeast of Brazil.

Politicians, government officials and pharma executives alike have been predicting a COVID-19 vaccine debut by year's end, but Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier doubts that's possible—and Merck has enough vaccine experience to know the obstacles ahead. Instead, those who are promising vaccines later this year could be hurting the overall fight against the pandemic, Frazier figures.

With the U.S. buying up most of Gilead’s stock of COVID-19 drug remdesivir, what hope is there for other countries who wish to treat people with COVID-19? An expert surveys the pharma production situation. The U.S. has leveraged its economic might to obtain almost all of the global stocks of the COVID-19 treatment drug remdesivir.