“We need to find a way to protect health care workers”

A Texas A&M University scientist needs hundreds of health care workers to participate in a large-scale clinical trial that could lead to a treatment that minimizes the often-horrible health effects of COVID-19.

In an interview that will appear in several television markets across the state, Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp talked to Dr. Jeffrey Cirillo about a clinical trial of using an existing tuberculous vaccine, BCG, to boost the people’s immune systems to better fight COVID-19. With positive results, the treatment could be available in as little as six months.

But to be successful, Cirillo needs about 700 participants for the Phase 4 trial. Initially, only health care workers in Texas are eligible to take part because, as Cirillo says, “we need to find a way to protect health care workers.”

Any health care worker who is interested in participating in the trial as a subject in the Bryan/College Station area, please click this link.

Cirillo and Sharp also spoke about the how COVID-19 could threaten people’s cognitive functions and how a vaccine could prevent brain-related problems.

Sharp has allocated $2.5 million from the Chancellor’s Research Initiative to helpCirillo.

“Why are research universities here if not to better the lives of our fellow Texans and Americans?” the chancellor asked.

Also on the show, Sharp sat down with Greg Hartmann, chief operating officer and senior vice president of the Texas A&M Health Science Center, to talk about other efforts to fight COVID-19.

They touched on rural health, telemedicine, fast-tracking nursing students into the field and the innovation at the university’s EnMed program, where students earn M.D.s and masters’ degrees in engineering.

This is the fifth in a special series of television shows called, “COVID-19: The Texas A&M System Responds.” Sharp is interviewing scientists, researchers and other leading experts who are helping Texas and the nation fight the pandemic in a variety of ways.

The interview aired 7 p.m. Thursday on KAMU-TV in College Station and on other Texas public television affiliates. (Check local listings in Dallas, Austin, Waco and Amarillo.) It also is available on the System’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/tamusystem.