Charlie Anderson, SBR Resident
In a recent conversation with our daughter, Maija Anderson, she told us of her new assignment at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, also known as “Fred Hutch” in Seattle, Wash. After working for more than 10 years on HIV clinical trials in South Africa and South America, the center has moved many of their research teams to battling COVID-19. She is now managing these trials and recently started a COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN) Volunteer Screening Registry.
The purpose of this screening registry is to create a list of potential volunteers, 18 years or older, who want to take part in current or future COVID-19 prevention clinical trials. As you may know, older adults have the most hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 of any group in the United States. So far, not many persons older than age 65 have signed up in this registry. It is expected that one and a half million people will take part in this study, hence their need for your help with this registry.
Participation involves completing a short online survey that includes some personal questions, such as where you live, your job, your past and present health, and contact information so that the researchers can speak with you. After you complete the survey you may be contacted by researchers who can tell you more about upcoming studies. If they do not contact you, that means there is no study that they can match you with right now. However, new studies continue to be planned over the next few months.
To learn more about the coronavirus prevention research, visit their website at www.PreventCOVID.org. You can also call the CoVPN Volunteer Screening Registry directly at 866-CVT-1919 (866-288-1919) to ask more questions.
Background Information: The COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN) was established by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, to enroll thousands of volunteers for large-scale, Phase 3 clinical trials testing a variety of investigational vaccines and monoclonal antibodies to protect people from COVID-19. The network merges four existing NIAID-funded clinical trials networks: the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), based in Seattle, Wash; the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), based in Durham, N.C.; the Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium (IDCRC), based in Atlanta, Ga; and the AIDS Clinical Trials Group, based in Los Angeles, Calif. The individual networks will continue to perform clinical trials for HIV vaccines and prevention and other infectious diseases, in addition to their new COVID-19 role.