Volunteers from Phoenix to participate in COVID-19 vaccine trials

Several people from Phoenix will be helping researchers take steps closer to finding a COVID-19 vaccine.

PHOENIX - An important step toward the discovery of a COVID-19 vaccine is about to begin as phase 3 of clinical trials start the week of July 27, and researchers are looking for volunteers in Phoenix.

The city will play a big role in the race to find a vaccine.

“This is a 30,000 person vaccine study," explains Dr. Nick Alderson. He is the CEO of the Hope Research Institute.

The institute is partnering with Moderna and the National Institutes of Health. Three sites in Phoenix will be part of 87 around the country conducting phase 3 trials of a potential COVID-19 vaccine.

“We need specifically people who are at risk of coming in contact with COVID. We need healthcare providers, first responders, essential workers, and we need people from racial and ethnic minority communities," Alderson said.

Volunteers will be given a real dose of the potential vaccine or a placebo.

“Part of the study here is to see if the vaccine will cause your body to produce antibodies from the vaccine itself, not your exposure to COVID,” he explained.

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This rate of progress for a potential vaccine has never really been seen before, doctors say, but the need has perhaps never been greater.

“It’s been astounding to be part of it to be honest with you, because if you’d had asked me if it’s possible to get a vaccine to get approved within the year, I would’ve said it’s naive to believe that and it would just not be able to happen, but here we are," Alderson said.

For more information, visit: https://hriaz.com/2020/07/20/study-covid-19-vaccine-trials/