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More than a month ago he was contacted the doctor and academic from the Faculty of Medicine of the U. de Chile, Miguel O’Ryan, by the team from Janssen, the pharmaceutical division of the American multinational Johnson & Johnson. The goal is to start a clinical trial in Chile to find a possible vaccine against covid-19. After passing the approval and organization stages of the process, it is expected that in two more weeks, the volunteer recruitment stage will begin.
For such purposes, we will work in coordination with the Family Health Centers (Cesfam), Colina and Esmeralda, both located in the commune of Colina. Also I know will add the Exequiel González Cortés Hospital, care facility in which they hope to enroll health officials and, finally, Cesfam Joan Alsina from the commune of San Bernardo. “In this last site we intend to invite, in addition to the health personnel, volunteers from a food producing company that is in the area and has more than 4,000 workers,” says O’Ryan.
According to estimates, it is expected to enroll 300 volunteers in Colina, the same number in the Exequiel González Cortés Hospital and about 400 people from San Bernardo. Participants must be over 18 years of age, who will be part of the project for a period of two years. After receiving all the information regarding their possible association, and signing the respective consent, they will be able to receive a random vaccine or placebo, that is, neither the volunteer nor the health team knows who receives the new product or the harmless substance. .
During this period, the research team will be in permanent contact with the participant to monitor their health status, especially if after inoculation the person develops the disease. In addition, blood samples will be taken to see the effect of vaccination on the immune response of the participants.
According to researcher Miguel O’Ryan, the purpose of monitoring for two years is to see the possible duration of immunity and study what happens with the volunteers, who will naturally be exposed to the virus. “The goal is to rigorously assess how many volunteers are infected between those who received the vaccine and those who receive the placebo. If it is quickly discovered that there is a significant difference, for example, that the vaccine is 70% or 80% effective, it could be that that is enough to move, in the months it takes to demonstrate this level of effectiveness, towards a licensing process for its emergency use in a pandemic period, ”says O’Ryan.
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