COVID-19: Over 500 registered as volunteers for vaccine clinical trial in Sarawak

Sarawak health director Dr Chin Zing Hing said over 500 individuals have registered to be volunteers for a COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial.

On Jan 6, the state’s health department invited the public to take part in the trial. The state had aimed for 400 volunteers.

Here’s what you need to know:

• The trial is part of a national effort to eradicate COVID-19.
• There is a formal process of inviting the participants who are interested before they formally consent to participate as a clinical trial subject.
• Not everyone registered for the clinical trial will be selected.
  
  "So far, these are the people who have expressed an interest. Not necessarily all of them will be selected because the process is very detailed. The volunteers have to listen to the explanations, understand and make up their mind whether they agree or not agree. So it is a long process," Dr. Chin told Astro AWANI.
  
• It was earlier announced that the trial was expected to start in early to mid-Jan 2021.
• The Institute of Molecular Biology of China Academy of Medical Sciences (IMBCAMS) is sponsoring the trial.
• The public will know the results of the trial when they are announced by IMBCAMS or when published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
• MBCAMS selected Malaysia to be one of the countries to collaborate with them in the field of medical science during the COVID-19.
• It allocated 3,000 subjects for this clinical trial.
• On Jan 11, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that the phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial will start on Jan 21 at nine Health Ministry hospitals by their respective Clinical Research Centres (CRC).
• Sarawak General Hospital was chosen as one of the nine centers to conduct the trial.