Orange County

AstraZeneca trials in need of more minorities to participate

Update 1/11: AstraZeneca has announced they have extended their trial until Friday.

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As Pfizer and Moderna vaccines continue to roll out, researchers are trying to wrap up the AstraZeneca trial.

But in order to do that, they need to enroll more minorities.

There are only five days to enroll, and getting minorities to volunteer has been hard for several trial sites across Central Florida.

READ: Local, state health officials aim to bring more COVID-19 vaccines to minorities

The Orlando Immunology Center is one of 33 sites around the country conducting phase 3 trials of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine.

But they only have until Wednesday to help the trial meet age and diversity goals.

The center said, in total, it needs about 515 people over the age of 65 and about another 330 Hispanics and 525 African Americans.

READ: Herd immunity may not arrive until after summer, Orange County officials said

The center said getting minorities to enroll in AstraZeneca has been tough.

Experts say there’s a lot of mistrust deeply rooted in the Tuskegee experiment of 1932, when the U.S. government wanted to study the natural progression of syphilis, so left it untreated in nearly 400 African American men in Alabama.

Those men just thought they were getting free health care from the government. The stuy was finally shut down 40 years later after The Associated Press ran an expose.

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Adam Poulisse, WFTV.com

Adam Poulisse joined WFTV in November 2019.

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