SAN DIEGO — Local researchers are participating in a new national clinical trial for COVID vaccines. Researchers will test vaccines against different variants with an end goal of finding what vaccine or vaccine combinations give the very best protection against the broadest range of variants with fewer booster shots.
"We know there will be new variants coming along and rather than chasing the next new variant that comes along this is rather a really scientific process,” said Dr. Susan Little, a professor of medicine at UC San Diego.
Dr. Little is leading the trial at UCSD which is one of 24 sites participating nationwide. Researchers hope to get one step ahead of the virus by developing the Moderna vaccine to resemble different strains. These vaccines will be made to target variants that include Beta, Delta and Omicron.
“If we see another wave, what is it and maybe we will develop specific vaccine variants for that new wave that comes out,” she said.
Participants will receive up to two shots. Researchers will take blood samples and look for antibodies to see how a person's immune system responds.
“We don't want to really give people a new vaccine or a boost every six months or twelve months forever,” she said. “We're trying to come up with combinations of vaccines that may in combination develop a better protective immune response."
It's really all about finding a vaccine that will better protect us for the future.
"The goal is to protect against the next variant,” she said. “That may require giving people a variety of vaccines that generate immune responses that cross cover different variants."
The trial is still enrolling healthy adults who have both vaccines and the booster. About 600 patients will participate in the study nationwide.
To learn more about the study, click here.
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