The Triangle

Issue date: 8/14/09 Section: News

Media Credit: US Center for Disease, Control and Prevention

Emory researchers administered a trial H1N1 flu shot to three volunteers August 10, kicking off the first of several trials that will test the effectiveness of the new vaccine as part of a national clinical run.

As one of the eight Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units (VTEU) supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Emory will spend the next week and a half delivering the vaccine to two age groups of approximately 100 volunteers each- healthy adults aged 19 to 64 and seniors 65 or older. On August 19, the university will also launch a clinical trial for children six months to 18 years of age.

The purpose of the trials is to help determine public policy, said Professor of Pediatrics Harry Keyserling, one of the five principal investigators of the Emory VTEU.

Keyserling said the trials will help deliver answers to a number of questions: do all age groups need two doses of the pandemic flu shot or do some groups only need one? Should the H1N1 vaccine be administered with the seasonal flu shot or separately? If given separately, does it matter which one comes first?

"We know that the pandemic strain has been a particular problem for young children and young adults," Keyserling said. "We've had epidemics in schools and in summer camps, and we've had epidemics on college campuses."

Student Government Association President Alex Kappus said that SGA has been working on initiatives throughout the summer that will help boost preventative efforts.

"We're working on doing a better job of reporting when someone gets sick in residence halls and making sure they get checked out," Kappus said. "There are plans in progress for quarantining those who have swine flu."

He said that because the college student age group is particularly susceptible to swine flu, he would definitely consider getting the vaccine if it becomes publicly available in the fall.

Keyserling said if the government decides to approve the vaccine for the general population, the priority groups of recipients recommended by a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) advisory committee are health care workers, first responders, pregnant women, children six months to 18 years of age, adults 18 to 24 years of age and individuals 24 to 65 years of age with underlying health conditions. The vaccine will be made available in October at the earliest, Keyserling said.

In the clinical trials, researchers will give the volunteers, mostly comprised of community members from the Atlanta area as well as some Emory students and personnel, one dose of the seasonal flu vaccine and two of the H1N1 vaccine, Keyserling said. Participants of the trial were not available on Monday.

Sri Edupuganti, another principal investigator, said the volunteers will receive vaccinations two more times after the first, all spaced three weeks apart. A week after each vaccination, the volunteers will return for an evaluation of any reactions or response, she said, and researchers will draw their blood after three weeks to check the immune response.

"We've had a really great response from people, eager to be in the trial," Edupuganti said. "We haven't even had to do much recruiting so far. After a press release by the NIH, we started getting calls."

The volunteer recruiting process began approximately July 22 or 23.

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