The goal of the vaccine among the study participants is to develop neutralizing antibodies, Solis said, clarifying that participants will not be injected with a live vaccine which uses a weakened form of the germ that causes the disease. However, the studies will be double-blind meaning neither the participants nor the researchers will know who gets which.Įach participant will get two doses, the first will be on day 1 of the study and the second will be on day 29. Of those who are enrolled in the study, half of them will receive the actual vaccine while the other half will receive a placebo. People who definitely cannot participate are individuals who were already infected with COVID-19 or who are pregnant. “So we want to see how the vaccine protects them as opposed to the healthy, no illnesses, not in that higher risk environment.” “Those are the ones getting sick quicker and worse,” he said. “The vaccine trials are still looking for participants that might not have these high risk criteria, as all research needs a collective group of different people,” he said.īut of the 500 people they’re recruiting for the Moderna study, all of whom will be compensated, Solis said they want a significant number to be people with those risks. “These two types of job descriptions, you’re front-line in different capacities, so that’s kind of who we’re reaching out for,” Solis said.īut people who don’t necessarily fall into those categories are still encouraged to apply. Healthcare workers - not just those in hospitals but those in nursing homes and clinics - are also a population of interest.Īdditionally, they’re interested in law enforcement such as police and also U.S. Researchers are also interested in participants who are at high risk of contracting COVID-19 because of their work, such as emergency room doctors, nurses and other ancillary staff. “We are the capital for diabetes in the country,” Solis said about why the Valley was an optimal location to conduct the studies. (Delcia Lopez | that meeting, Fauci acknowledged that the virus has more of a damaging effect on people with underlying conditions and particularly those with diabetes. Construction workers expand a “prep room” at Centex Studies on Thursday, July 30, 2020, in McAllen. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. To discuss diversity within the clinical trials, Cuellar - along with members of the Asian, Black, Hispanic, and Native American Congressional caucuses - met with Dr. “And that’s why the McAllen area, the Valley area, the Laredo area, the San Antonio area are extremely important.” “They purposely cover a lot of the areas that have high numbers of minority communities,” Cuellar, D-Laredo, said during a news conference call on July 27. Henry Cuellar said included clinics in McAllen, Laredo and San Antonio. where vaccine trials are being conducted which U.S. There are currently 89 sites throughout the U.S. Solis said their focus is people who are at high risk of developing severe symptoms from the disease, such as people with diabetes and individuals with underlying pulmonary or other chronic conditions.īlack and Hispanic communities are at an increased risk of getting sick and dying from COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “This is a message of hope.”Ĭentex will be participating in Phase 3 of trials for a drug developed by Moderna for which the clinic will recruit 500 participants. Solis, one of the clinicians overseeing the studies, said that after months of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, he wants the vaccine trials to offer the public something to look forward to.
in McAllen will launch COVID-19 vaccine trials, the only clinic to do so throughout the Rio Grande Valley.ĭr.
On Monday, researchers at Centex Studies Inc. McALLEN - Inside an office just behind Valley Medical Art Clinic, a construction crew worked to add final touches to a workspace where clinicians, researchers and a select group of community members are joining a global effort to mount a counter-offensive in the fight against the novel coronavirus.
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