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Indeed several companies were [1].

However, the glaring elephant in that room is this....

There already were several vaccine candidates out there for SARS1 and/or MERS.
There was effectively no commercial need for either a SARS-1 or MERS vaccine. Those viruses didn't pose a nationwide, or worldwide threat as understood at the time.

So there was little to no need for any new SARS1 or MERS vaccine to be investigated. Drug R&D, including vaccines, is extremely expensive. Drug companies don't go through the process unless they think there is a commercial need.

This looks to me like sometime BEFORE Dec 12th, 2019, a LOT more people in this country knew that a new and highly contagious coronavirus was on the loose in China (and perhaps elsewhere by then) and Moderna was teaming up with UNC (no doubt among other research universities/entities) to try and determine if either: (a) one of their existing coronavirus vaccines would be effective against this emerging virus...or...(b) a newly developed coronavirus vaccine specific to SARS-COV-2 needed additional outside study.

This must be investigated further to determine which coronavirus Moderna was newly collaborating on with UNC in mid December 2019. The timing & financials are highly suspicious. Needs further investigation from some intrepid journalist.