How can I volunteer for a COVID-19 vaccine study?
Governments and companies are setting up websites where people can sign up.
Enthusiasm is high: More than 400,000 people have signed a registry of possible volunteers thats part of a vaccine network set up by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
But before raising your hand, its important to understand how the research works.
Initial studies include only a few dozen young, healthy volunteers, since this is the first chance to see if a shot causes a risky reaction in people. Older adults, anyone with a serious underlying illness, and pregnant women are typically excluded from this testing stage.
Mid-stage studies of COVID-19 vaccines recruit a few hundred people, including some older adults. The focus is on comparing how people’s immune systems react to different doses, as well as getting more safety data.
In final-stage studies,…