A clinical trial for a COVID-19 vaccine variant is underway at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical, and researchers are seeking participants.
The trial is for a Moderna booster that is expected to guard against the B.1.135 COVID-19 variant, which was originally identified in South Africa. The B.1.351 variant and others can spread more easily, dodge some treatments and immunities or both, leaving them a threat even as more Americans get vaccinated.
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"While it appears the variant is more easily passed from one person to another and the variant has a higher rate of infection, currently there is no evidence that this variant has any impact on disease severity," said Dr. Robert Frenck, director of the Cincinnati Children's Gamble Vaccine Research Center. "So, while more people may get mild illness, the variant does not seem to cause a higher percentage of infected people to be hospitalized or die from the virus."
The trial needs 30 to 50 adult participants who have not been infected with COVID-19 and have not received any COVID-19 vaccine. To enroll, fill out the screening form at https://bit.ly/32Jru3D for volunteers on the Cincinnati Children's site. Volunteers will be compensated up to $950 for their time.
Cincinnati Children's learned in March that its Gamble Vaccine Research Center would be one of four sites in the United States to host a trial for the variant-blocking booster.
The new formulation of the Moderna vaccine that volunteers will get could provide greater protection against COVID-19 than vaccines now available, Frenck said.
As of Friday, B.1.351 makes up 7% of U.S. COVID-19 cases for the last two weeks, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows. In Ohio, the variant has made up 0.8% of the state's cases in the last four weeks; B.1.351 hasn't been detected in Kentucky so far.
"The South African variant remains quite unusual in Ohio," Frenck said. "While the variants are unusual, we are trying to get ahead of things and have information about combating the variants in case they become more of a problem."
That getting ahead is a new thing for the pandemic-related vaccines. "Over the past year, we have been playing 'catch up' against the virus," Frenck said. "This trial is a step to start getting ahead of the virus. In case infections caused by variant strains of COVID-19 become more common in the (United States), or if the current vaccines need to be modified to best prevent infection with the virus, this study is an important first step to know the best way to continue to combat the virus."
To learn more about vaccines, go to Cincinnati Children's Vaccine Resource Center, which the medical center created during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
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