Scientists Start Second Phase Of Zika Vaccine Testing

Researchers at Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine last week began Phase 2 clinical trials for a Zika vaccine that is expected to have results as early as the end of this year.  Andrew Pekosz, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, praised the vaccine’s potential to prevent disease, as well as how quickly clinical trials have taken place.  “It’s really been a light-speed endeavor,” Pekosz, who was not involved in the vaccine’s testing or development at the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told The Huffington Post. Phase 2 of the trial will have two parts. In the first part, scientists will vaccinate 90 healthy volunteers to determine the optimal dose and injection site of the vaccine. The second part will enroll 2,400 healthy volunteers in areas with potential or active Zika transmissions, including the United States, Puerto Rico, Brazil and Peru. Participants will receive a vaccine or a placebo, and researchers will observe them over nearly two years to compare infection rates among vaccinated and unvaccinated participants. After a successful Phase 2, the clinical trial would move on to a third phase. But a successful trial in the second phase could allow the government to use the vaccine in an emergency outbreak situation, Pekosz said. The $100 million Phase 2 trial has been fully funded, so President Donald Trump’s...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news