An investigational vaccine designed to guard against the COVID-19 coronavirus – called mRNA-1273 – has been developed by NIAID scientists team-working with the biotechnology company Moderna Inc. Now, a Phase 1 clinical trial has begun to evaluate its safety and ability to induce an immune response. It is taking place at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) in Seattle.
NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., said:
“Finding a safe and effective vaccine to prevent infection with SARS-CoV-2 is an urgent public health priority. This Phase 1 study, launched in record speed, is an important first step toward achieving that goal.”
Senior investigator at KPWHRI, Lisa A. Jackson, M.D., is leading the open-label trial, which will enroll 45 healthy adult volunteers between 18 and 55 years old. The study will evaluate different doses over approximately six weeks. This is merely the first of several steps to come into the clinical trial process to analyze the potential benefit of the vaccine.
The first volunteer to receive the vaccine was a 43-year-old Seattle mom named Jennifer Haller. She told Associated Press:
“We all feel so helpless. This is an amazing opportunity for me to do something.”
Another Seattle volunteer was Neal Browning, a 46-year-old Microsoft engineer. He told A.P.:
“Every parent wants their children to look up to them.”
As exciting as this breakthrough trial is, experts, warn that potential vaccines could end up being a dead end. Furthermore, bringing a new vaccine to market could take months or even years, especially when millions or billions of doses are needed.
Nevertheless, the team is hopeful. Jackson told the AP:
“This work is critical to national efforts to respond to the threat of this emerging virus. We are prepared to conduct this important trial because of our experience as an NIH clinical trial center since 2007. We’re team coronavirus now. Everyone wants to do what they can in this emergency.”
The team used a genetic platform called mRNA (messenger RNA) to develop the vaccine. It works differently than most vaccines because it doesn’t use the virus at all. The scientists were able to quickly develop mRNA-1273 because they had experience with related coronaviruses in past studies, such as the ones that cause Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
If you are an adult living in the Seattle area who is interested in joining this study, click here.
