Henry Ford Starting Coronavirus Vaccine Trials, and Needs Volunteers

Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit has been named one of the Coronavirus vaccine trial sites for a potential vaccine.

There are only 90 sites throughout the entire country, and Henry Ford is the only place that trials will be happening in Michigan. The potential vaccine has shown promise, and is being fast tracked into phase 3 of testing. That means Henry Ford is looking for volunteers to be a part of the trials.

Henry Ford put out a press release talking about the vaccine trials this week. Dr. Adnan Munkarah is the Executive VP and Chief Clinical Officer at Henry Ford, and he talked about what the trial means to Henry Ford.

Henry Ford Health System is proud to be part of the fight against this deadly virus.  As one of the region’s major academic medical centers with more than $100 million in annual research funding, Henry Ford is involved in numerous COVID-19 efforts with partners around the world.

I'm not a doctor obviously, but the basics of the trials are that volunteers will have a 50% chance of receiving the actual vaccine or a placebo. Then the hospital follows your through regular checkups to monitor the results.

So why would anyone sign up to be given an experimental vaccine? Money. There is the potential to get $1,000 for volunteering. I had about a million questions about the vaccine trial, and Henry Ford answers most of them with a thorough Q & A page here.

The trial is open to anyone 18 and over who is not pregnant. The focus will be on people that are at high risk of contracting the Coronavirus. That means front line and essential workers who are in the public will definitely be sought after.

I don't think I'll be busting down the door to be a part of the vaccine trials, but I do salute all of those that do. If you want more information about the trials, you can get it from Henry Ford here.