| It was rough last week on the Covid vaccine front, with the U.S. government suspending use of Johnson & Johnson's shot out of fears that it can cause a rare form of sometimes-fatal blood clotting. Those concerns had already hobbled a vaccine made with similar technology by AstraZeneca, which some countries have avoided using. That's bad news amid another global surge of Covid infections that's been hardest on less-developed nations where cheap and easy-to-transport vaccines like Astra's and J&J's are needed. There simply aren't enough of the highly effective messenger-RNA shots from the Pfizer-BioNTech alliance or Moderna right now to meet the world's urgent needs. Help, however, may be on the way. German biotech company CureVac, which has worked on mRNA technology for two decades, is on the cusp of delivering data from its Covid shot's 40,000-person late-stage clinical trial. While rivals BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna raced ahead with trials last year, allowing for eye-popping data to emerge by November, CureVac took a slower approach. One benefit of the delay? It created a vaccine that is stable at standard refrigerator temperatures for at least three months — a potential game changer for the developing world.  Photographer: DeFodi Images/Getty Images Europe Photographer: DeFodi Images/Getty Images Europe If all goes well with CureVac's trial, which is being conducted in Latin America and Europe, data may be available within weeks, leading to potential approval in Europe later this spring. The results, however, may appear complicated at first. The delay means CureVac's vaccine is being tested against highly transmissible variants that have arisen over the past few months since other vaccine makers tested theirs. That may make CureVac's numbers look less impressive. CureVac has promised to offer detailed data on how its shot has performed against these different strains, first seen in the U.K., Brazil and South Africa. Meanwhile, CureVac, like its mRNA peers, is hard at work on developing second-generation Covid shots that can target variants of the virus. It's collaborating on that work with GlaxoSmithKline and is already in talks with governments – including the U.S. – on supply agreements. But for now, the focus is on CureVac's current shot. If it performs well in the ongoing trial, CureVac aims to deliver 300 million doses this year – enough to fully vaccinate 150 million people – and up to 1 billion doses in 2022.—Tim Loh | 
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