Announcer Becomes First Volunteer For Third Phase Vaccine Trial In The US

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JAKARTA - A WTOC news anchor in Savannah, Georgia, Dawn Baker is a little nervous but excited about making history. Yesterday morning, he became the first volunteer to receive a trial of the third phase of the new corona virus vaccine in the United States (US). The number of lives that have been lost due to COVID-19 is his biggest motivation to do this.

"This is really very empowering, I can be the person who can help save some lives. It's heartbreaking to hear about people who have lost their lives because of this," Baker told CNN.

It had never occurred to Baker to do this. "I just hope it's a good result. I know a lot of people do a lot of different vaccine trials," he said.

In his home country, according to Johns Hopkins University there have been more than 4.2 million cases of COVID-19 and 146,935 people have died. Meanwhile, various medical research institutions in the world are competing to create a vaccine that is expected to be a solution to the pandemic.

At least 25 COVID-19 vaccine candidates are being tested in humans, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Five of them entered the third trial phase, the most final phase before the vaccine could be used by the wider community.

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The COVID-19 vaccine, which is being tested in its final phase in the US, was developed by the biotechnology company Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The trials will be held at 89 points.

"This is the fastest since the virus has been identified until it actually enters a third phase of trial, in the history of vaccinology in the US and maybe even in the world," said NIAID director Anthony Fauci.

This trial requires at least 30,000 adult volunteers to evaluate whether the Moderna vaccine can safely prevent COVID-19. Methods, each volunteer will receive 100 micrograms of the vaccine injection or just a placebo. The effect will be tested for 28 days.

Investigators and participants will not know who has received the vaccine. Neither was Baker, he was told whether he was receiving a vaccine or a placebo.