Lauran Neergaard

AP Medical Writer

This March 16, 2020 file photo shows vials used by pharmacists to prepare syringes used on the first day of a first-stage safety study clinical trial of the potential vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle. The world's biggest COVID-19 vaccine test got underway Monday, July 27 with the first of 30,000 planned volunteers. The experimental vaccine is made by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., and it's one of several candidates in the final stretch of the global vaccine race.

World's Biggest COVID-19 Vaccine Study Gets Underway

30,000 planned volunteers are helping to test shots created by the U.S. government and Moderna.

This March 16, 2020 file photo shows vials used by pharmacists to prepare syringes used on the first day of a first-stage safety study clinical trial of the potential vaccine for COVID-19.

COVID-19 Vaccine Search Heats Up

Initial tests focus on safety, and researchers are trying out different doses of different types of shots.

This March 1931 file photo shows ampules of the BCG vaccine against tuberculosis in a laboratory at the Institute Pasteur in Paris, France. Dec. 2, 1947 file photo. Scientists are dusting off some decades-old vaccines against TB and polio to see if they could provide stopgap protection against COVID-19 until a more precise shot arrives.

Could Old Vaccines Work?

Scientists are dusting off decades-old vaccines.

In this Wednesday, April 8, 2020 photo provided by the Center for Pharmaceutical Research, a participant in a COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine trial receives an injection in Kansas City, Mo. This early safety study, called a Phase 1 trial, is using a vaccine candidate developed by Inovio Pharmaceuticals.

New COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate

Researchers have opened another safety test.

A man wears a mask while crossing in front of the Stockton Street Tunnel in San Francisco, Sunday, March 29, 2020.

Should You Wear a Mask in Public?

For now, if you are not sick, you do not need to wear a face mask.

In this Feb. 18, 2020, file photo, Dr. Zhou Min, a recovered COVID-19 patient who has passed his 14-day quarantine, donates plasma in the city's blood center in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province. Plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients contains antibodies that may help reduce the viral load in patients that are fighting the disease.

Can Coronavirus Survivor Blood Treat Newly Ill?

It's a century-old treatment used to fight off flu and measles outbreaks.

French lab scientists in hazmat gear inserting liquid in test tube manipulate potentially infected patient samples at Pasteur Institute in Paris, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. Scientists at the Pasteur Institute developed and shared a quick test for the new virus that is spreading worldwide, and are using genetic information about the coronavirus to develop a potential vaccine and treatments.

Virus Vaccine May Not Come in Time

Experts are scrambling.

This undated photo provided by MIT/Langer Lab shows a star-shaped gastric resident dosage form of birth control that can be folded into a standard capsule and orally ingested. The dosage form resides in the stomach for up to a month where it releases the contraceptive drug.

Once-a-Month Birth Control Pill Works in Animals

The tiny star-shaped gadget unfolds in the stomach and gradually releases the drug.

This undated photo provided by Margherita Mencattelli in April 2019 shows the tip of a robotic catheter equipped with a small camera and lighting encased in silicone, in Boston. Described in a report released on Wednesday, April 24, 2019, the device guided itself through the delicate chambers of a pig's heart as it was beating.

Robot Navigates Beating Heart

Scientists have created a robotic device that safely guides itself through the delicate chambers of a pig's heart as it's beating.

Study Raises Questions About Gluten, Lactose

The addition of lactose, food dyes and gluten to medications are putting users at risk.

This 2019 photo provided by Northwestern University shows a soft, flexible wireless sensor applied on a foot of a family's baby, who is involved in the clinical trial at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. This kind of sensor could replace the tangle of wire-based sensors that currently monitor babies in hospitals' neonatal intensive care units.

Wireless Sensors Monitor Newborns

These tiny skin-like wireless sensors may finally help cut the cords.

This undated photo provided by researchers in February 2019 shows the components of swallowable self-righting device which can inject drugs from inside the stomach. The new invention, reported Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019, by an MIT-led research team, has been tested only in animals so far. But if it pans out, it might offer a work-around to make not just insulin but a variety of usually injected medicines a little easier to take.

Pill Delivers Insulin

The new swallowable gadget is inspired by a tortoise shell.