Phase 3 of COVID19 vaccine trials underway, last step before licensure

Researchers are getting closer to figuring out if a COVID19 vaccine in development really works.

Phase 3 of clinical trials is now underway.

Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious diseases expert and the head of Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group said it’ll come down to two factors.

“The two big phase 3 trials right now are designed to determine efficacy and safety. Efficacy meaning, does it protect you against infection?” said Poland.

Those two trials happening simultaneously are from Moderna in the U.S., which has enrolled 30,000 volunteers including some locals, and the Oxford trial which also has 30,000 volunteers across Europe, Brazil and other countries.

“Phase 3 is really the last phase in the development of a vaccine before it goes through licensure. After licensure then we do so-called phase 4 studies,” said Poland.

Phase 4 will include hundreds of thousands perhaps even millions of people to catch any side effects that may have been missed in phase 3.

Dr. Poland said these trials involve people of different ages, but they don’t involve pregnant women or children.

“And that’s a problem. As we’ve seen, children absolutely can transmit this virus and widely so. And for good reason, pregnant women are very concerned in regard to having a child during a pandemic like this. So at the current time, they’re not included in these trials,” said Poland.

If you’d like to sign-up to be a volunteer in the ongoing vaccine studies, you can do so by visiting coronaviruspreventionnetwork.org.

Cox Media Group