Operation Warp Speed turns to DoD to host phase 3 clinical trial of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) will host a phase three trial of the vaccine candidate AZD1222, developed by AstraZeneca, at five locations selected by Operation Warp Speed.

For the trial, the selected sites include Naval Medical Center San Diego, Joint Base San Antonio Brooke Army Medical Center, Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center in San Antonio, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, and Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in Virginia. There, researchers seek volunteers at higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, be they essential workers, from dense urban areas or communities hardest hit by the pandemic, or residents and workers of crowded facilities.

“The Department of Defense continues to play a key role in the development of a potential COVID-19 vaccine,” Tom McCaffery, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, said. “Now that vaccines have passed the first phases of testing for safety, dosing, and response, we are ready to move into the next phase where volunteers are needed to join large clinical studies.”

Operation Warp Speed hopes that efforts like this will yield safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics by January 2021. Supporting this particular trial are the DoD’s Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense, along with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs and the Defense Health Agency.