Tucked away in a nondescript building on the Vanderbilt University campus, a team of physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses and research assistants are working on what they hope will be a successful vaccine for COVID-19. This vaccine, being developed by pharma- ceutical research company Moderna, is currently in the clinical trial phase 3, with over 30,000 people participating nationally and 500 at Vanderbilt under the direction of Dr. Buddy Creech.

One participant in the Vanderbilt study is Jewish Family Service Clinical Director, Toni Jacobsen, who recently completed her two vaccine trial. During her final visit to the clinic, Toni spent about 90 minutes and interacted with over a half dozen people. The visit began with a check-in with the Nurse Practitioner Anna Gallion, who took Toni’s vital signs, took a COVID-19 swab, and interviewed her about her recent health status. After a waiting period of about 20 minutes, Gallion left the room and another nurse entered to administer the vaccine. According to Anna Gallion, the study is what is called, “observer-blind,” meaning the process aims to minimize or eliminate bias or preferential treatment about which participant receives the vaccine and which receives a placebo.