The Gazette reports that the University of Iowa will begin giving trial coronavirus vaccines to volunteers today. Its all part of a research study investigating a possible vaccination for COVID-19.

The trial is sponsored by two companies, Pfizer and BioNTech. The Gazette says that they're working together to enroll 30,000 healthy volunteers who are willing to take what's called an 'investigational' vaccine. That is a vaccine that the Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved yet because it is still being tested. The university portion of the study will include 250 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 85 who are healthy, not pregnant, and have jobs or do activities that put them at a greater risk for contracting coronavirus.

The study's vaccines will be given by injection. The goal is to produce antibodies to fight off the disease. The Gazette reports that officials say that it is important to get a diverse section of the population to participate so they can find out if the vaccine works on all ages, races, and genders.

According to the trial summary, participants will either get the trial vaccine or a placebo that looks like the vaccine but doesn't have any active ingredients. Everyone in the study will get two injections. For every person who gets the vaccine, another person will get the placebo. The two injections will come either three weeks or two months apart. The Gazette reports that a participant could be in the study for up to 26 months and would have to visit a study site at least six times.

 

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