VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — The administrators of a COVID-19 vaccine trial underway in Volusia County say they need more diversity among the trial’s participants in order to have success.

What You Need To Know

  • Researchers are seeking more minorities to participate in the COVID-19 vaccine trial

  • So far, the vaccine has proven to be safe, researchers say

  • About 1,300 people in Central Florida have participated in the trial

Doctors at Accel Research in DeLand are now urging more minorities to take part in the vaccine testing.

Chintana Ohl volunteered for the study because service to country means a lot to her family.  

“My husband, children all served in the military,” said Ohl. “And I feel like maybe I should do something to help the country too.”

Spectrum News 13 was there at Accel Research when Ohl began her participation in the ongoing Moderna vaccine trial. The trial, underway for about four weeks, has seen about 1,300 participants in Central Florida and about 40,000 nationwide.

Dr. Bruce Rankin, who is overseeing the research, says so far it’s gone well and the vaccine has proved to be safe.

“There’s no way to catch COVID-19 or to transmit it to anybody else,” he said.

But Rankin says the research needs more minorities, like African Americans, Asian Americans and Hispanics, to volunteer.

“Those groups are getting harder hit with COVID and we want to make sure that when we’re testing a vaccine like this, those groups have an opportunity to see how it works for our minorities,” said Rankin.

Ohl’s first visit took about two hours and involved answering a few questions, getting a blood test and then getting the first dose of the vaccine.

“Nothing difficult at all, it’s just relaxing and makes you feel good that you can be part of this research,” said Ohl.

She says it’s worth it if it helps everyone get one step closer to getting back to life before the pandemic.

“So we can get on with our lives and the whole world can be connected again,” said Ohl.

As part of the research, some participants in the trial will get placebo doses that won’t contain any of the vaccine. 

Because a proven widespread vaccine could become available before the end of Moderna’s two-year research trial, administrators said in that case they will notify participants who get placebo doses and give them the proven vaccine so they are protected from getting the virus through the rest of the research trial.