Emory University begins participating in 3rd phase of Novavax vaccine trial

ATLANTA - Emory University is participating in Phase 3 of a COVID-19 vaccine, school officials announced Wednesday. 

According to a news release sent to FOX 5, the new trial will test the safety and effectiveness of a vaccine developed by biotech company Novavax. This is the third late-stage vaccine candidate Emory researchers are evaluating.

Earlier this week, a group of volunteers received doses of the vaccine at Grady Hospital.

"We are thrilled to be launching another COVID-19 vaccine trial after the successes we saw with the Moderna vaccine trial at our research site," Colleen Kelley, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine at Emory says. "Multiple, effective vaccines will be necessary to ensure adequate global supplies and conquer the pandemic. This vaccine also has less stringent cold-chain storage requirements than the mRNA vaccines, so that is another plus."

The first coronavirus vaccines were administered during the second week of December in Georgia as new infections continued to soar.

Over almost two weeks nearly 26,000 Georgians have been vaccinated, Gov. Kemp announced Monday.

RELATED: Over 26,000 Georgians have received COVID-19 vaccine so far

Meanwhile, President-elect Joe Biden criticized the Trump administration for the pace of distributing COVID-19 vaccines and predicted that "things will get worse before they get better" when it comes to the pandemic.

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