MARYLAND (Reuters) – U.S. college students vaccinated with Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine will be part of a new study to test their effectiveness in slowing the spread of the virus, the COVID-Prevention Network said Friday. 19.
The trial, supported by the National Institutes of Health, is designed to determine whether the vaccine, mRNA-1273, can prevent coronavirus infection, limit the virus in the nose, and reduce the transmission of vaccinated people to their close contacts.
The Preventive COVID U study, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will monitor nearly 12,000 young adults from 20 universities over a five-month period.
There did not appear to be any Utah universities included in the study record sheet.
Half of the students will be vaccinated when they enroll, while the other half will receive the vaccine four months late, according to the network, formed by NIAID to conduct vaccine and antibody studies for the new coronavirus.
Students, as well as 25,000 people referred to by them as “close contacts,” will fill out questionnaires, take nasal swab samples and provide blood samples over a period of time, allowing study researchers to measure the spread of the virus.
“Our hope is to show that COVID-19 vaccines prevent people from becoming infected with coronavirus and stop transmitting it to others,” said Dr. Larry Corey, lead researcher on the network’s operations program.
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