MONROE, La.– The Monroe COVID-19 vaccine trial has been underway since August, but enrollment for the trial was put on hold due to an incident in the UK. That incident was determined to be unrelated to the covid study and two weeks ago the trail opened back up.
“Well, it is a competitive trial. so there are almost 100 sites in the United States and they want to do 30,000 patients. We are enrolling about 100 people a week because we like to do things well and treat our people right,” said Dr. Jeb Andrews, CEO of Clinical Trials of America.
Since the COVID-19 trial has been back up and running, they’ve seen an increase in people joining and getting excited about this vaccine. However, Clinical Trials of America is still in need of residents to enroll in the study before it’s too late. So far, the Monroe trial has over 200 participants, including 17 local doctors, several teachers, and a few mayors.
“We want everybody. This is not a disease that discriminates, it’s white people, black people, covid effects everybody. If you are over 18 years old, we would love to have you,” said Dr. Andrews.
But before you say “no”, listen to someone who has been a participant in the Monroe trial since day one.
“I got my second shot two weeks ago today and like I said I have not had any issues at all. I think it is going to be a very smooth transition from the test phase to everybody getting the shot across the country,” said David Johnson, a participant in COVID-19 vaccine trial and Co-owner of Flying Tiger Brewery.
Clinical Trials of America say they haven’t had any problems and the trial looks promising.
Not only do you get a check for being a part of the study, but you’d also be making history and helping to save thousands of lives.
“They haven’t had anybody that has had any issues with it, why not try and do something to help humanity, said Johnson.
Officials know this may be a scary step to take, but they are being cautious with every move they make.
“Initially people had a lot of fear. You know this is an unknown disease, but as you and I have talked about before, they’ve been working on this particular vaccine since 2015. So this is not a rush to market type of deals,” said Dr. Andrews.
Enrollment will only be open for the next 3 to 4 weeks and they have 1500 vaccines available for this area. In addition, they’re staying open late on Thursdays for those who work late.
