Editor’s note: this AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 trial is on temporary hold while the company looks into whether a patient involved in the study suffered a serious side effect or an unrelated illness.
By Toi Creel
UCLA is searching for volunteers for a COVID-19 vaccine
The Lundquist Institute, in partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and AstraZeneca, is conducting a research study on a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca according to helpstopCovidla.
The study is the final step before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. If the findings are proven to be successful, the vaccine will be licensed and made available for widespread use.
The first dose could be out as early as September.
The vaccine has gone through early trials and is being tested to see if after two doses it will prevent COVID-19 cases that show symptoms.
Currently, Lundquist and UCLA are searching for volunteers living in Los Angeles County. This includes healthy people between the ages of 18-59 as well as those over 60 years of age with preexisting medical conditions such as obesity, hypertension, lung disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.
To be eligible as a volunteer, the patient cannot have tested positive for COVID-19. Volunteers will be assigned at random to receive an injection of a placebo saline formula or the investigational vaccine
According to researchers “there is 100% certainty that study volunteers will not contract COVID-19 from the vaccine, as the vaccine does not contain the live virus.”
For more information, visit http://www.helpstopcovid.la
