OHIOSTATESEEKS500VOLUNTEERS FORVACCINETRIAL
TheOhio StateUniversityWexnerMedicalCenterwill be involved inAstraZeneca’smulticenterclinical trial of an experimentalCOVID-19vaccine.
About500adults at higher risk of exposure to COVID-19, such as teachers, first responders, college students, factoryworkers, restaurant employees and seniors65orolder, arebeing sought toparticipate in the trial, according to aWexnerMedicalCenternewsrelease.
“We’re thrilledthatOhio State canbring this COVID-19vaccine clinical trial to centralOhio,”Dr. RamaMallampalli, chair of theDepartment of Internal Medicine atOhioStateUniversityCollege ofMedicine, saidin a statement.“Ourhospitals andresearchers are uniquelyqualifiedto conduct these trialswith the aimof saving lives in ourcommunityandbeyond.”
According to the release, the randomized, doubleblind, placebo controlledtrials will require bloodsamples tobedrawn fromparticipants, whowill followupwith medical experts overtwoyears.
Mallampalli saidthe results fromclinical trials conductedthrough theCOVID-19PreventionNetwork, createdby theNational Institute ofAllergyand InfectiousDiseases, are critical in getting aCOVID-19 vaccine to market.
“Time is of the essence to developavaccine and/or drugs that can halt the transmission ofSARS-CoV-2and reduce the serious health effffffects anddeaths caused byCOVID-19,”saidDr. Susan Koletar, director of the Division of InfectiousDiseases atOhioStateWexner MedicalCenterandprincipal investigator of the study, in a statement.
Volunteers for theAZD1222clinical trial can apply at https://www.coronaviruspreventionnetwork.org/ understanding-clinical-studies/#active-studies.