ATLANTA — Emory University began administering the first of what will be hundreds of doses to volunteers of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine this week, as a national clinical trial the school is participating in entered Phase 3.
Emory said the first doses of the vaccine were given at its Hope Clinic of Emory Vaccine Center to volunteers.
According to the school, hundreds of volunteers for the trial, 18 and older, will eventually be given the vaccine.
The vaccine, known as mRNA-1273, was co-developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the biotech company Moderna.
Emory administered the experimental vaccine to 17 people earlier this year as part of Phase 1 of the trial, during which the vaccine was "generally well tolerated" by the volunteers and "generated an immune response" from them.
This larger phase of the study will be conducted at more than 80 sites around the country with about 30,000 volunteers.
"Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either the tested vaccine or placebo, given in two injections spaced 28 days apart," a release said.
It added that participants will be monitored for safety through regular clinic visits and they'll be tested for over two years to see who eventually becomes infected with COVID.
“As the death toll from this pandemic continues to rise, it becomes even more urgent that we find a safe and effective vaccine to prevent COVID-19," Evan Anderson, the principal investigator in the Emory trial, said. "Having this trial take place at Emory gives Atlanta-area residents the opportunity to participate in a study that, if successful, has the potential to help stem the tide of this disease.”
Emory is seeking volunteers for the trial and directs those who wish to enroll to their Vaccine Center Hope Clinic, the COVID-19 Prevention Network, or to email Emory Children's Center or the Ponce Center.
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