BOSTON (WHDH) - Brigham and Women’s Hospital is working to find more people in the Boston area to be a part of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine trial.
In an effort to produce a safe and effective vaccine, Moderna and doctors at the Brigham are speaking out about the process.
In his 50s and with pre-existing medical conditions, Anthony Shivers decided the best way to make a difference was to sign up for the Moderna Phase 3 trial.
“The coronavirus isn’t waiting on us, so we really have to engage,” he said.
The hospital’s Lead for Community Engagement and Education for COVID-19 Vaccine Trials Dr. Paulette Chandler said that hundreds of people have enrolled so far.
“We have over 25 percent elderly, over 30 percent from communities of color, and over 30 percent first responders,” she said. “So we’ve been very successful but of course we want more.”
Half of the participants are given the vaccine and the other half are given the placebo.
“What does an effective vaccine mean,” Dr. Lindsey Baden who serves as a co-principal investigator at the Brigham posited. “Is it that you don’t get COVID or that you don’t get sick from COVID? We would like both things to happen.”
To get to that conclusion, doctors administer two shots to participants a few weeks apart.
They are then tracked by a team looking to see if they ever develop symptoms of the virus or an immune response detected in the blood.
“I recommend it to everybody, let me put it like that,” Shivers said. “Be part of the solution.”
So far, doctors say no patterns of concern have been identified with the vaccine.
As for whether it is safe, Dr. Baden said no corners were cut during vaccine development.
“How do we balance the known risks, the theoretical risks, and the need for greater evidence with the current health urgency that we’re all facing,” he said.
They hope to wrap up enrollment in this study at the end of the month.
Dr. Braden said he does not want to speculate on when the vaccine could become available to the public. The biggest hurdle they are facing now — obtaining and maintaining the trust of the public.
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)