Marshfield researchers key in study of COVID-19 vaccine’s effectiveness
“It also shows that taxpayers’ dollars are going to good use.” Dr. Jennifer Meece Director of the institute’s Integrated Research and Development Laboratory
MARSHFIELD – A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which showed Pfizer’s and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines are 80% effective in preventing coronavirus infections after one dose, was mainly collected from the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute.
The study, released last week, tested vaccinated health care and frontline workers and also confirmed effectiveness jumped to 90% after the second dose of either vaccine.
Marshfield Clinic’s research group tested 3,950 samples a week between Dec. 13 and March 14 from both symptomatic and asymptomatic people across the U.S., demonstrating the real-world effectiveness of mRNA vaccines such as the ones produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, according to a press release.
The Research Institute has been following a large group of high-risk people for COVID-19 based on their occupation. They have been self-swabbing their mouths and mailing the samples to Marshfield since the summer, said Dr. Jennifer Meece, director of the institute’s Integrated Research and Development Laboratory.
Meece, who led the data collection with a team of around 50 scientists, called the results “amazing” and “encouraging.” She and two other senior research associates at the lab, Lynn Ivacic and Elisha Stefanski, were authors of the study.
Not only was her team able to determine vaccine effectiveness, but because so many people were sending in weekly samples — sometimes up to 2,000 a day — they were also able to identify people sick with COVID-19 before they showed symptoms, helping to reduce transmission of the virus.
“What a gift is it to have a safe, effective vaccine to get us back to normalcy,” Meece said. “It also shows that taxpayers’ dollars are going to good use. (It’s) an investment in research and an investment in public health.”
However, she cautioned the public to remain vigilant.
Nearly 32% of Wisconsin’s residents have gotten one dose of the vaccine, but the state cases began climbing again Friday. Milwaukee and other cities could see restrictions reinstated in the next two weeks if COVID-19 cases don’t ease in the coming weeks.
Meece encouraged all who are able to get the vaccine to do so, even if you’re
hesitant by the speed at which the vaccines were produced. Vaccine trials didn’t “cut corners” and the idea of an mRNA vaccine was in the works “long before COVID began,” she said.
“How are we going to stop this? By decreasing transmission person to person, and vaccination is essential to that,” Meece said.
The Research Institute received a $22.5 million grant in July to play a leading role in a number of CDC COVID-19 studies across the country, including the one released March 29 and several upcoming studies on other population groups.
The Marshfield Clinic researchers could play a pivotal role in testing variant strains of COVID-19 and vaccine effectiveness on those varieties, Meece said.
“Our physician researchers and scientists are dedicated to helping end this pandemic for the people in rural Wisconsin and across the globe,” Marshfield Clinic Health System CEO Dr. Susan Turney aid in a statement to the media.
Meece, who is celebrating her 20-year anniversary at the Research Institute this fall, said she never wants to live through another pandemic, but her team will be well-prepared for another in the future. The staff, she said, dedicated their “blood, sweat and tears” to their work. She hired some staff members straight out of college to help with the work.
“(Marshfield) is a community of 20,000 people,” she said. “To have the ability to get this contract and collaborate with the CDC, much less recruit these talented young people, it’s pretty special.”