Coronavirus vaccine study begins in New Orleans

Ochsner Health in New Orleans is one of two sites in Louisiana and among 120 across the globe participating in a COVID-19 vaccine study conducted by Pfzer Inc. and BioNTech SE.

There will collectively be up to 30,000 participants in the study led by Julia Garcia-Diaz, an infectious disease specialist and Ochsner Health's director of clinical infectious diseases.

"This trial is a great opportunity for us," said Julia Garcia-Diaz, an infectious disease specialist and director of clinical infectious diseases research at Ochsner Health.

"It's a pivotal trial looking at a new corona vaccine. It will be looking at at least 30,000 patients here and across the U.S. and abroad, and so, the trial will be short-lasting, and we hope to get the information shortly, in October, and we'll see how it performs."

Ochsner is enrolling a limited number of participants selected from an existing pool of candidates from across the state who previously expressed interest in COVID-19 research.

The trial is part of one of the world's largest COVID-19 vaccine studies helping to test shots. Others have been created by the U.S. government and National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., some in the final stretch of the global vaccine race.

But there's still no guarantee that the experimental vaccine will really protect.

Among those participating in the trial at Ochsner is Victoria Smith of Kenner, Louisiana.

"I really want to be part of Ochsner's efforts to help to really get a handle on this pandemic and make sure that we're doing the things that really can stop this and try to get us back to normal," Smith said.

"I really hope that my efforts and being a part of this trial will lead to the fastest development of a vaccine that will allow us to get back to normal. Also, as an African American, science has not always been great to us. So, I'm also excited to be part of a study that's helping to develop a vaccine …  for a condition that has disproportionately affected African Americans."

Savannah, Georgia, was the first site to get underway earlier this month and is among several dozen trial sites scattered around the country and more than 100 across the globe.

Several other vaccines made by China and by Britain's Oxford University began smaller final-stage tests in Brazil and other hard-hit countries earlier this month.

But the U.S. requires its own tests of any vaccine that might be used in the country and has set a high bar:

Every month through fall, the government-funded COVID-19 Prevention Network will roll out a new study of a leading candidate -- each one with 30,000 newly recruited volunteers.

The massive studies aren't just to test if the shots work. They're needed to check each potential vaccine's safety. And following the same study rules will let scientists eventually compare all the shots.

In August, the final U.S. study of the Oxford shot begins, followed by plans to test a candidate from Johnson & Johnson in September and Novavax in October -- if all goes according to schedule.