On Sept. 3, 2020, the U.S Department of Defense announced that as part of the Operation Warp Speed (OWS) goal to deliver safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics by January 2021, five DoD locations have been identified to participate in the Phase III trial evaluating the vaccine candidate AZD1222 under development by AstraZeneca.

The DoD sites selected are:

• Naval Medical Center San Diego (Site Code: NMSD)
• Joint Base San Antonio Brooke Army Medical Center (Site Code: BAMC)
• Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center (San Antonio) (Site Code: WHASC)
• Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (Bethesda, MD) (Site Code: WRMC) and
• Fort Belvoir Community Hospital (Fort Belvoir, VA) (Site Code FBCH)

To ensure that the vaccines work to protect those at greatest risk, participation by people from communities that were hardest hit is critical. The study was looking for people who are at an increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

OWS is a U.S. government, interagency endeavor that is focused on delivering 300 million doses of a safe, effective vaccine for COVID-19 and is part of a broader strategy to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics (countermeasures) for the virus.