Coronavirus vaccine volunteers needed in New Orleans, Baton Rouge

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After a vaccine for coronavirus showed promising results in a 45-person study conducted by biotech company Moderna, research sites in New Orleans and Baton Rouge will enroll volunteers to measure whether the vaccine is ready for the world at large as part of a Phase 3 study.

Benchmark Research in Jefferson Parish is looking for at least 300 people to take part in the 30,000-person study, which is run by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. It is also seeking 1,000 volunteers for other COVID-19 vaccine studies currently in the pipeline. In Baton Rouge, Meridian Clinical Research is looking for between 350 to 500 participants for the Moderna study.

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All participants will get two shots one month apart. Researchers will then follow the volunteers for two years. Half the participants will receive a placebo shot of saline.

The other half will be injected with genetic material from the virus called mRNA, said Dr. Michael Cotugno, an emergency medicine physician and principal investigator at Benchmark. That material cultivated antibodies in the 45 participants in the first test, and the antibodies neutralized the virus.

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