Study Volunteers Get A Key Question Answered: Did I Get A Vaccine Or A Placebo?
A subject receives a shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine by Moderna for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
Ted S. Warren / AP
Vaccine Or Placebo
Researchers are contacting volunteers who participated in the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine trials to tell them whether or not they received the vaccine or a placebo. If they did get a placebo, the volunteers are being offered the real vaccine.
The decision to âunblindâ the vaccine trials is unusual. Participants in medical trials are rarely told what they received while the trial is ongoing. But as many as two-thirds of the volunteers in the Moderna study are in high-risk categories. Researchers told GBH News that with a vaccine that is 95 percent effective against a virus this dangerous, alerting participants is the ethical thing to do.
®) put out new information today to provide guidance for COVID-19 vaccinations in people with cancer. The nonprofit alliance of leading cancer centers created an NCCN COVID-19 Vaccine Committee that includes top hematology and oncology experts with particular expertise in infectious diseases, vaccine development and delivery, medical ethics, and health information technology. These recommendations can help cancer care providers make informed decisions on how to protect their patients from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, based on available evidence plus expert consensus. The committee s recommendations state that all people currently in active cancer treatment should get the vaccine, with some advice to consider regarding immunosuppression and timing. The full document can be found at NCCN.org/covid-19, along with other vital information about the impact of COVID-19 on cancer care.
Associated Press
FILE - In this March 16, 2020 file photo, a pharmacist gives Jennifer Haller, left, the first shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle. Tens of thousands of Americans have volunteered to test COVID-19 vaccines, but only about half of them got the real thing. Now, with the first vaccine rollouts and a surge in coronavirus infections, experts are debating what to do about the half that got a dummy shot. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)