Hunter
07/30/20
A trial vaccine for COVID 19 will be given to 250 area volunteers as part of a larger test starting today.
Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech have worked together to develop the vaccines, which will be given to up to 30,000 volunteers nationwide.
The University of Iowa is administering the trial vaccines, which will be given to individuals aged 18 to 85. They have been judged to be generally healthy, not pregnant, and engage in jobs that would put them at heightened risk of contracting COVID-19.
The Gazette reports the university’s Vaccine Research and Education summary says the vaccines are all slightly different but work in the same way. Various dosage sizes will also be tested.
Everyone who is part of the study will get two injections, the second coming three weeks or two months apart. For every person who gets the vaccine, another will be given a placebo. Blood draws will be taken during the trial to test antibody levels.
The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has been conducting COVID-19 research since the pandemic began, and has offered early trial treatments of plasma garnered from recovered patients, and the drug Remdesivir.