Patria vaccine: 3 out of 4 volunteers were rejected because they did not reach the required antibody levels

The rejection rate of volunteers who wanted to participate in Phase 2 clinical trials of the Patria Vaccine was 3 out of 4, reported the head of the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt), María Elena Álvarez-Buylla Roces.

At a press conference for the collaboration agreement between Conacyt and the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), held this Tuesday, April 19, Álvarez-Buylla said that the rejection was due to the fact that volunteers did not reach the required antibody levels, which were less than 1,200.

Before the Ómicron variant, the rejection rate was 1 in 2, but as vaccination progressed, rejection levels rose considerably, as it was more difficult to find people with this level of antibodies when they had already received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Likewise, the head of Conacyt indicated that she expects the R2 clinical trial to be completed within a few months, without giving a specific date, but she assured that the estimated time for the conclusion of this phase would be less than a year.

Once the R2 clinical trials (phase two of reinforcement) have been completed, the R3 trials will be carried out, which will allow a higher recruitment rate than the current one, explained Álvarez-Buylla, so progress would be made more quickly and effectively.

It should be noted that the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the Patria vaccine could obtain its emergency use record as long as it had a validated file that guarantees its safety and efficiency. However, for this, phases 2 and 3 must be completed.

In view of this, the head of the Undersecretariat for Health Prevention and Promotion, Hugo López-Gatell, has extended the invitation to citizens to participate in the clinical trials of the Phase 2 that are currently being carried out. Likewise, at a morning conference on April 5, he commented that he sees the advance of the vaccine as very “promising”.

Phase 2 requires more than 400 volunteers who must meet the following requirements: live in CDMX; be over 18 years old; have received a complete vaccination schedule (regardless of the vaccine) 4 months before; have not had respiratory diseases within the last 21 days; not be pregnant and not participate in another study protocol.

The project is in charge of the Government of Mexico and Laboratorios Avimex. If you want to voluntarily join the phase 2 clinical trials, the following page has been enabled for registration: https://encuestas.conacyt.mx/index.php/831584. Upon completion of the 30-question questionnaire, the candidate will be notified if they are eligible to participate in these studies.

At the close of Sunday, April 17, the Ministry of Health reported that a total of 195 million 528 thousand 994 doses of vaccines against COVID have been supplied -19 since last December 24, 2020. In addition, 85 million 708 thousand 849 people have been immunized with at least one dose, of which 79 million 945 thousand 2 have the complete schedule.

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