IU Participating in Moderna Vaccine Study
As COVID vaccines continue to roll out in Indiana and throughout the country, a critical question remains: can people who have received the vaccine still spread the virus?
Indiana University is participating in a nationwide study, looking at the effectiveness of the Moderna vaccine and is tapping college students to help answer that question.
IU is one of 21 universities, and the only college in Indiana, to be a part of the program.
In an interview with Business of Health reporter Kylie Veleta, Dr. Christina Ludema, an assistant professor at the IU School of Public Health in Bloomington explained how researchers hope to use findings.
“The research is really strong on the ability of the COVID vaccines to prevent serious disease and death. And we also know that vaccine for the prevents asymptomatic disease, meaning that silent spread piece,” explained Ludeman. “What we don’t know if it’s vaccination also prevents spread.”
Because college students live in such close quarters, scientists say they’re the ideal group to answer the question. More than 12,000 students nationwide will take part in the five-month-long study. Researchers hope to get 500 IU-Bloomington students to take part in the study.
Ludema says the answers will have far-reaching implications, including when employers could safely bring their workers back to the office.
“For an employer, you might have a person in your office who can’t get the vaccine for really legitimate health reasons,” said Ludema. “If that’s the case, we’re looking for this possibility of herd immunity, where everyone getting vaccinated protects those people in the population who can’t get vaccinated.”
The students will be asked to provide a daily update via their cellphones. They will also undergo daily nasal swabs and three blood draws.
While this study uses students on the Moderna vaccine, Ludema says researchers expect to see similar results from those on the Pfizer vaccine.
Ludema says they hope to have initial results in the early fall.