The Phase 1 of the clinical trial for the vaccine against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) has started at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) in Seattle.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US, there will be 45 healthy adults ages 18 to 55 years who volunteered to participate in the trial, which will last approximately for 6 weeks.
The trial, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), will evaluate the different doses of the experimental vaccine for safety and its ability to induce an immune response in participants.
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The first participant received the vaccine last March 17.
The vaccine is called mRNA-1273 and was developed by NIAID scientists and their collaborators at the biotechnology company Moderna, Inc., based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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Participants will be asked to return to the clinic for follow-up visits between vaccinations and for additional visits across the span of a year after the second shot.
Clinicians will monitor participants for common vaccination symptoms, such as soreness at the injection site or fever, as well as any other medical issues.
A protocol team will meet regularly to review safety data, and a safety monitoring committee will also periodically review trial data and advise NIAID.
Participants also will be asked to provide blood samples at specified time points, which investigators will test in the laboratory to detect and measure the immune response to the experimental vaccine.
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