Local researchers are preparing to test a vaccine that could help prevent COVID-19.

Rochester Clinical Research is seeking healthy volunteers between ages 19 to 85.

For 25 years, RCR has conducted vaccine tests. The process to develop a vaccine for Ebola, a disease similar to the coronavirus, took more than five years.

COVID-19 has crushed that timeline.

“That’s a long time,” Adam Larrabee, RCR’s president, said of the Ebola vaccine. “But to be entering into clinical trials within four months for this virus? That’s pretty fast. Very fast.”

The Food and Drug Administration is fast-tracking drugs to both treat and prevent COVID-19.

Modern vaccines no longer use live forms of the virus. Instead, the genetic code of the virus, called RNA, is safely re-created and, in this case, mimics how the coronavirus behaves.

“You inject it into the body, your cells take it up, then the genetic material that’s in there turns on your cells to make antibodies,” said RCR Medical Director Dr. Matthew Davis.

With much of the focus on healthcare during this pandemic, there has been progress in the lab. More than 71 vaccines are in development; five of them have progressed to clinical trials. The sixth will be here in Rochester.

Healthy adults with no underlying health issues will be screened, given the vaccine, and a follow-up blood test. After that, they will be monitored.

“Safety is our number one priority,” Larrabee said.

While the virus has sparked fear and uncertainty, the response to the call for volunteers has been astonishing.

“We’ve had over 500 people reach out to us, proactively asking to be involved,” Larrabee said.

He said there will be more opportunities for volunteers as more of the vaccines reach the clinical testing phase.

“They’re moving very rapidly,” said Dr. Davis. “They’re trying to get this and vaccines like this into production quickly, within a year, year-and-a- half.”

— WHAM 13