COVID-19 vaccine trial taking place in Wichita
WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) --The University of Kansas School of Medicine campus here in Wichita is one of 100 clinical trial sites for the Oxford University developed version of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. Tiffany Schwasinger-Schmidt, the school's director for clinical research, will oversee the trials. She says Oxford tested this particular vaccine on a small scale with positive results, so moving to a bigger trial here in the U.S. is the next step to getting it to the public.
The goal is to vaccinate and study 30,000 people across all 100 testing sites in the U.S. The study will last two years.
Dr. Schwasinger-Schmidt says, “Our hope with conducting this large trial is that we're going to get the data to make sure that this is effective.”
As for when the vaccine will be ready for mass production, that is not yet known but the more data this trial produces, the sooner that date could come.
The trial is expected to start at the end of August and they need volunteers to be vaccinated. Dr. Schwasinger-Schmidt says they are looking for people who are at a high risk for COVID-19 and have not had a lab confirmed positive COVID-19 test to get vaccinated. This includes people over 65 and those who come from the African-American or Latino communities.
Dr. Schwasinger-Schmidt told KAKE News that anyone who volunteers should be considered a hero. “There's no better definition of a hero than someone who is willing to help us as researchers and doctors understand this virus, slow the spread, stop the devastation that it's causing.”
U.S. pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca purchased the vaccine for production, if trials go well.
To take part in the trial, you can either sign up through the coronavirus prevention network's website. You will need to click the site preference as KUMC.
Or you can receive a screening by calling 316-293-1833.