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Inside Pfizer's Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial

vaccine
Posted at 6:56 PM, Jan 08, 2021
and last updated 2021-01-08 19:23:29-05

(WXYZ) — We're taking a closer look at Michigan's role in the COVID vaccine trials during tonight's 7 UpFront segment.

There are currently three Phase 3 trials underway, one for AstraZeneca at Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor, one for Moderna at Henry Ford Health in Detroit, and a third for the Pfizer vaccine at the Michigan Center for Medical Research in Farmington Hills.

We're talking about the Pfizer trial with lead investigator Dr. Steven Katzman.

You can see the full interview in the video player above.

"This was a worldwide study. There were 38,000 patients in the study," Katzman says. "In Michigan, we filled up our study pretty quick. Our patients were great, very few people dropped out and they did quite well throughout the study. It was a lot of work, but our staff was great. We got through in a timely fashion. So Pfizer was very pleased and we were very pleased with the outcome, obviously."

"The safety is there. The scientific profile has been fantastic," he says. "Your arm will be sore, a lot of people will get that. Fatigue, muscle ache, joint pain, rarely feverous but we do see this. It's very well tolerated. As far as if you've had COVID before, the CDC is recommending that you should still get it. Obviously, talk to your health care professional on timing because we don't know how long that natural immunity is going to last in people who already had COVID."