The University of Kentucky is one of 20 schools participating in a study on COVID-19 transmission and vaccinated people. About 150 local college aged students from 18-to-26 will be enrolled in the trial.
Although the Moderna product is being used in this study, it has implications for all vaccines. The study should help determine whether the vaccine prevents the spread of coronavirus, not just illness in the vaccinated. Dr. Richard Greenberg is leading the UK study. “Cause if there is no spread, that’s a wonderful finding. And we’re only going to find it by doing this. That’s sort of the theme. We’re only going to find it by doing this,” said Greeenberg.
Greenberg said this type of research is important because there are increasing numbers of COVID-19 variants. Researchers hope the study results will allow for more science-based decisions about mask use and social distancing after vaccination, especially as new variants emerge.
The study involves both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Study Project Manager Dr. George Hoover said participants and close contacts will be asked to be tested. “Once they get swabbed and we find out that someone has tested positive, then the people who are around them that agree to be part of the study also, they will get swabbed too to see if the people that have been vaccinated in our study have transmitted it towards them,” explained Hoover.
The study includes financial incentives for study participants to get swabbed. Study coordinators say those participants who are currently unvaccinated can still get vaccinated during the seven-month period.
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