First patient at University of Maryland gets dose of experimental coronavirus vaccine
As countries around the world search for a coronavirus vaccine, the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health is taking part in experimental trials.
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University of Maryland researchers injected their first patient with a dose Monday. That patient is one of four early participants who are young and healthy and willing to lend their bodies to researchers racing to find a coronavirus vaccine.
"I'm doing this for the greater good. I'm also doing it because I find the entire concept very interesting," said David Rach, the patient. "The only way out of this mess for the foreseeable future is to find an effective vaccine. The only way to get an effective vaccine is to get them through trials."
Several other institutions in the United States and in Germany are testing at least four different experimental vaccines to determine whether any are effective. They are looking for up to 90 participants in Baltimore.
"Now that I've got the first shot, they still come back next week, and the week after just to take blood to see how my immune responses are acting to the vaccine. Then, three weeks after the first vaccination, they give you a booster shot just to see if you can ramp up the immune response," Rach said.
Researchers will follow Rach closely the first three months, then will check back in at six-, 12- and 24-month intervals to see how long antibodies last.
They're testing a messenger RNA vaccine that researchers said "differs from a traditional vaccine because it does not inject a virus protein into the body."
As Rach, a PhD student in immunology, explained, "It's just the envelope protein, which then your own immune system will see, recognize it's a virus particle, and it will start mounting an immune response against it."
That means Rach doesn't risk getting infected and he doesn't have to self-quarantine.
"If it goes forward and works out to be this is the vaccine that works six months from now, I'll be happy in my participation of helping to move that forward," Rach said.
If all goes well, researchers hope to submit a vaccine to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval as early as this fall.
Anyone interested in participating in the trial should contact the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health here.