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August 30, 2020
UCLA Medical study aims to enroll 30,000 volunteers across the United States to test the COVID-19 Vaccine developed by Oxford University.
Photo: The state-of-the-art UCLA Medical Center at the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, United States. Image Credit: Minuk.
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 29, 2020 — Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and UCLA Medical Center in Westwood are recruiting volunteers for phase 3 trials of a new investigational COVID-19 vaccine. They expect to administer the first dose in early September.
The Vaccine, developed by Oxford University, is called AZD1222 and has already gone through early trials. This trial would determine whether the Vaccine can prevent symptomatic COVID-19 after two doses. The study aims to enroll 30,000 volunteers across the United States. It is important to note that this Vaccine does not have a live virus and cannot give a person COVID-19. If the trial results are positive, the Vaccine could be made available to the public to prevent the disease.
“We are excited to work with the National Institutes of Health in this study to identify an effective and safe vaccine for COVID-19. Particularly for those communities most impacted by this pandemic,” said Dr. Eric Daar, Lead Researcher at the Harbor UCLA Medical Center and Professor at UCLA’s Geffen School of Medicine. “We are looking forward to engaging and talking with those who are interested in enrolling in the study. Without the support from volunteers, identifying an effective vaccine won’t be possible. LA County has been hit hard by the virus; vaccines end pandemics, and it is our hope and goal that we can come together and help stop COVID-19 in LA and everywhere.”
“This is a critical moment in time. We need a groundswell of turnout from those in the Los Angeles community to volunteer for this study,” said Dr. Raphael Landovitz, Lead Researcher for UCLA Medical Center in Westwood. “In vaccine trials, we mustn’t only focus on one population; at the same time, it is critical to enroll those who are at the highest risk of getting exposed, and also getting sick if exposed. Help Stop COVID LA is an opportunity for us to come together, be a part of the solution, and move forward together.”
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center’s Lundquist Institute and UCLA Medical Center in Westwood are part of the COVID-19 Prevention Network. The clinical research network, supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of NIH, aims to enroll thousands of volunteers in large-scale clinical trials testing various investigational vaccines monoclonal antibodies intended to protect people from COVID-19.
Harbor-UCLA and UCLA Westwood seek to engage and recruit more than 750 volunteers who reside in Los Angeles County, primarily including individuals at high-risk for severe disease.
To be eligible, a volunteer cannot have tested positive for COVID-19. Volunteers will be assigned at random to receive a placebo (saline injection) or the investigational Vaccine. The trial is blinded, meaning the participants and the investigators will not know who gets the Vaccine. Two-thirds of the volunteers will get the study vaccine, and one-third will get a placebo or harmless injection. It would allow researchers to compare outcomes in the vaccine group versus the placebo group. Researchers will monitor all study volunteers for the development of symptomatic COVID-19.
Sources: Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and UCLA Medical Center in Westwood.
|GlobalGiants.Com|
— The Chief Editor holds an Oxford Alumni Card and is a Member of the Oxford and Cambridge Society of India.
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 3:49 AM | Link to this Post
