TAMPA, Fla. — The search for a vaccine against the coronavirus will involve health care workers in Tampa Bay.
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Tampa General Hospital is one of 16 sites across the country taking part in an important study that could determine whether the drug hydroxychloroquine can prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“If we can answer the questions 'if hydroxychloroquine can prevent you from getting COVID-19' this will be an added ammunition in their fight against COVID-19,” said Tampa General Associate Epidemiologist Dr. Seetha Lakshmi.
The study will be conducted through a health care worker registry, where researchers hope to 15,000 health care workers. The study itself has a very apt title: Health Care Worker Exposure Response and Outcomes, or "HERO."
"To be honest with you, I don’t think in the history of naming studies we have named a study so perfectly," Lakshmi said, who is also an assistant professor of infectious diseases at USF.
Until now, most of the testing looked at hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19, leaving a lot of unanswered questions.
It's hoped that this new trial, looking at it as a preventative, will answer some of them.
“It’s a very ambitious study,” said Lakshmi, “We’re trying to keep pace with the virus, so we have to be fast. The hope is to complete the study in 8 weeks.”
The trial study is expected to begin next week. Results could be available sometime in July.
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