AstraZeneca vaccine coming soon, ’til then, mask, wash, distance, Lundquist researcher urges
Striking sunsets lured large crowds to the Hermosa Beach pier over the weekend. Photos Dr. Eric Daar says there is a silver lining to the COVID-19 surge. “It is speeding up vaccine trial results,” he said. Daar is a member of a team at The Lundquist Institute that has enrolled nearly 300 volunteers in the Phrase III trial of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Nationwide, 30,000 volunteers are being enrolled. Two-thirds of the volunteers are receiving the vaccine. One-third are receiving a placebo. Vaccines with successful Phase III trials may be approved for general use. The quicker people who received the placebo get COVID, the sooner Daar’s team can compare them to the percentage of people who received the vaccine, he explained. “If, for example, only two people who receive the placebo get COVID, we can’t make a meaningful comparison to those who received the vaccine. We need about 150 in the placebo group to get COVID,” he said. Both the Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were approved on the basis of approximately 150 people in their placebo group getting COVID. A record number of new COVID-19 cases last week prompted the Manhattan Beach City Council to ban outdoor dining. Downtown…
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