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AdventHealth Looking for Central Florida Residents to Participate in Operation Warp Speed Coronavirus Vaccine Trial

Photo: Sam Moqadam
Photo: Sam Moqadam

AdventHealth Research Institute says a vaccine they’re testing could be available as early as next spring.


Chief Scientific Officer Steven Smith says the vaccine being tested through the ENSEMBLE trial would be a one-shot coronavirus vaccine.

He says the vaccine uses the same technology that the Ebola and childhood respiratory syncytial virus vaccines already use. 

“This vaccine will have the data to say yes it's safe and effective first quarter and then probably full approval if everything goes right somewhere around June or so. Something like that."

[audio mp3="https://www.wmfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/steven-clip-one.mp3"][/audio]

Smith says the plan is to enroll over 60,000 people in the trial. Half will get the live vaccine and half will get the placebo. 

He says the team will then follow-up with participants about side effects over the next two years using an app on their phones.

Elderly people and people from minority communities who have been hardest hit by COVID-19 are especially encouraged to apply to be part of the study.

“We need to make sure that the vaccines are safe. We need to make sure they're effective. And we need to make sure that they work for everyone.”

[audio mp3="https://www.wmfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/steven-clip-two.mp3"][/audio]

Smith said people who are severely immunocompromised, pregnant women and children cannot enroll in the study.

AdventHealth is also working with the state to distribute Pfizer’s vaccine if the FDA approves it, either at the end of this year or the beginning of 2021.

To learn more or to apply to be part of ENSEMBLE, click here.
If you'd like to listen to this story, click on the clips above.

Danielle Prieur is WMFE's education reporter.