The first volunteer who was set to receive the new Israeli coronavirus vaccine has been disqualified.
Boaz Koldoner, 47, a resident of Moshav Ganei Hadar and father of three, was to receive the vaccine Sunday (Nov. 1) developed by the Israel Institute for Biological Research.
After preliminary tests on Friday at Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer Medical Center, COVID-19 antibodies were discovered in Koldoner’s blood, which disqualified him from the clinical trial.
The presence of the antibodies indicated that Koldoner had previously been ill with the virus, albeit without having experienced any of the symptoms.
Regardless, the clinical trial will go forward with other volunteers; there are four others on the waiting list who underwent the preliminary tests at Sheba Hospital as well.
The first volunteer to receive the vaccine on Sunday and to then be hospitalized for a day will be Segev Harel. Concurrently, a 34-year-old doctoral student who lives in southern Israel and volunteered for the study is to receive the vaccine at Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem. Two more volunteers will receive vaccine doses on Tuesday.
Among the four volunteers, one member of the group will receive a placebo.
A total of 80 volunteers ages 18-55 will be involved in this first phase of the clinical trial, which is expected to last about a month and will involve both hospitals. Most of the volunteers are men.