On Apr. 1, 2021, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) announced that an investigational vaccine designed to protect against the coronavirus variant first detected in the Republic of South Africa was administered to three adult volunteers enrolled in a new phase 1 clinical trial in Seattle.

eRsearchers aimed to enroll approximately 210 healthy adult volunteers at KPWHRI, Emory University in Atlanta, and 2 other clinical research sites in the U.S.