UPMC, Pitt Looking For Volunteers For COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Dose Clinical Trial
By: KDKA-TV News Staff
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- UPMC and Pitt are partnering to participate in a new vaccine trial that will test booster shots for the COVID-19 vaccine.
Pitt's School of Medicine announced on Monday that it is one of 12 sites in the country selected for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine booster dose.
The program says the trial will study the safety and immune response of the vaccine combinations in protecting people from COVID-19 and its variants.
It is not a study of whether booster shots are needed.
Watch as KDKA's Chris Hoffman reports:
"The study's design is not to show whether we need booster shots," said Dr. Judy Martin with Pitt's School of Medicine and Pitt's Center for Vaccine Research. "Its focus is identifying which vaccine combinations are safe and provide the most protection against the virus that causes COVID-19 and its variants."
They are looking for 150 adults who are fully vaccinated and 250 adults who have not been vaccinated at all.
The fully vaccinated group must be fully vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the Moderna vaccine or the Pfizer vaccine prior to the study. Participants will receive a booster dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine 12 to 20 weeks after they were first vaccinated.
The non-vaccinated group will receive the standard two doses of the Moderna vaccine in order to be considered fully vaccinated. 12 to 20 weeks later, they will get the booster dose.
Participants will give blood samples and will be tested throughout the year.
The trial's results are expected to be released next summer.
