The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases entity in charge of creating the Zika vaccine wll be recruiting as of April, 240 Costa Ricans of the metropolitan area and Santa Cruz, Guanacaste that have not been infected by the virus and are willing to try the experimental vaccine in a trial.

The Zika virus, transmitted by a mosquito has affected people in over 50 countries, including Costa Rica.

According to Gisella Herrera, director of the Costa Rican Center of Medical Investigation (CCIM), entity in charge of carrying out the study in this area, the recruiting will start in San Jose; through publications in the media and ads close to the Hospital Cima in Escazu where the CCIM is located, they will try to attract volunteers.
The Costa Rican Agency of Biomedical Investigations (ACIB) will be in charge of the investigation in Guanacaste, will begin the search for volunteers in the month of May. The Agency will go house by house in the area of Santa Cruz, informing people of the study and seeking their collaboration.

Volunteers must be healthy individuals between the ages of 18 and 35 years of age who have not been infected by Zika before and that can commit to the study for a 2 year period. Participants in the study will receive three dosages of the vaccination during the first three months, half of them will receive the vaccine while the other half will get a placebo, since the study intends to demonstrate not only the security but also the efficiency of the vaccine. Neither the volunteers nor the personnel that will apply the product will know which person is receiving the real product and which ones the placebo, this is what is called a double blind experiment.

After receiving the doses, each person must maintain a journal in which they will register their temperature and any symptom they have. The study will carry on for 96 weeks and each person will have to take urine tests and blood tests every 15 days.

Women who wish to be part of the study cannot become pregnant in a period of at least 12 weeks after the last application of the product.

Volunteers will not receive any payment for their collaboration, their medical visits will be covered during the investigation period.

Aside from studying the immune response of people, the US institute is looking to learn more about the illness and analyze its behavior.

The study will also be carried out in Houston and Miami in the United States as well as Guadalajara, Mexico; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Iquitos, Peru and Panama City, Panama.