Several clinical Phase 3 trials to find a vaccine for COVID-19 started this week in the Bay Area. Volunteers are needed to be injected with a potential vaccine. Several participants will be given the actual vaccine and others will be injected with a placebo. No one will be injected with the virus itself. Scientists are hoping that groups with particularly high exposure to the COVID-19 virus, and people with underlying medical conditions participate in large numbers. They are also hoping to test Latinx, Black, Native Americans and other ethnic groups who have been disproportionately affected by this disease.
Kaiser’s launched a study of a Pfizer vaccine while UCSF and San Francisco’s Department of Public Health plan to launch a study of an AstraZeneca vaccine in the coming weeks. Stanford is also in line to test multiple vaccines in September and October of 2020.
Kaiser trial information can be found at http://kpstudysearch.kaiser.org
ClinicalTrials.gov also lists COVID-19 research projects.