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Naval Medical Center San Diego selected as COVID-19 vaccine trial site

COVID-19 vaccine candidate begins final test
Posted at 12:59 PM, Sep 03, 2020
and last updated 2020-09-03 15:59:55-04

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Naval Medical Center San Diego has been selected as one of a handful of sites to participate in a coronavirus vaccine trial.

The medical center will participate in phase III trials for vaccine candidate "AZD1222" developed by AstraZeneca, according to the Department of Defense. The trial is looking for participants who are at the greatest risk of the coronavirus, including:

  • Working in an essential job, such as healthcare professions, emergency response personnel, grocery workers, meat-packing plants, restaurant staff, public transit, etc.;
  • Living in densely populated residential environments;
  • Living or working in congregated living facilities such as correctional facilities or nursing homes; and/or
  • A member of a community that has been hardest hit by this pandemic, such as older persons, persons with underlying health conditions, and racial/ethnic groups such as African Americans, Latino, and Native American populations.

RELATED: UCSD to participate in national COVID-19 clinical trial, looking for volunteers

The trial is part of Operation Warp Speed, which intends to have a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutics by 2021.

To volunteer, applicants can apply online here. In San Diego, applicants should use the site code: NMSD.

"The Department of Defense continues to play a key role in the development of a potential COVID-19 vaccine," said Tom McCaffery, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. "Now that vaccines have passed the first phases of testing for safety, dosing and response, we are ready to move into the next phase where volunteers are needed to join large clinical studies. We are excited to have several sites identified to support the next steps in the vaccine development process."

Joint Base San Antonio Brooke Army Medical Center (site code: BAMC) and Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center (site code: WHASC), in Texas; Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (site code: WRMC), in Maryland; and Fort Belvoir Community Hospital (site code: FBCH), in Virginia, were the other DoD sites selected to participate.