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 Apr. 1 to 3 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.