A large number of vaccine clinical trials are underway in the battle against COVID-19. According to Megan Berman and Richard Rupp there is a study testing if oral polio vaccine may be able to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections.

UTMB’s Galveston National Laboratory was one of three labs to confirm a therapeutics company’s drugs were able to neutralize the pandemic coronavirus. “Our lab tested a panel of antibodies against a real SARS-CoV-2 in biocontainment. We were pleased to see very good neutralizing activity for some antibodies,” said UTMB’s Alex Bukreyev.

Personal protective equipment, and in particular masks, have been a topic of much concern for front-line health care workers and first responders dealing with spread of the new coronavirus. The global spread of the disease has strained supplies and disrupted supply chain, making the needed masks harder to come by.

The Sealy & Smith Foundation of Galveston has awarded a $3.35 million gift to the University of Texas Medical Branch to support research focused on a portfolio of studies to develop medical countermeasures to fight the COVID-19 virus.

The Sealy & Smith Foundation recently awarded $1.45 million in funding to the University of Texas Medical Branch to improve health care access and services to the medically underserved citizens of Galveston. A significant portion of the funding will be used to install UTMB’s Epic Electronic Medical Record at both the St. Vincent’s House community health clinic and at all five Teen Health school-based clinics on the island.