--- title: We Need One Million Volunteers for COVID-19 Vaccine Trials description: In order to have effective vaccine trials, America needs another one million volunteers to sign up, especially from diverse backgrounds. canonical: https://time.com/5894798/need-volunteers-covid-19-vaccine-trials/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-09-30T18:25:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T09:16:15.076Z article:section: Ideas og:title: We Need One Million More Volunteers for the COVID-19 Vaccine Trials og:description: In order to have effective vaccine trials, America needs another one million volunteers to sign up, especially from diverse backgrounds. og:url: https://time.com/5894798/need-volunteers-covid-19-vaccine-trials/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt435946b46c55440b/698a12b0656a3fc73ebda8c7/covid-vaccine-trial-volunteers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: covid-vaccine-trial-volunteers og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: We Need One Million More Volunteers for the COVID-19 Vaccine Trials twitter:description: In order to have effective vaccine trials, America needs another one million volunteers to sign up, especially from diverse backgrounds. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt435946b46c55440b/698a12b0656a3fc73ebda8c7/covid-vaccine-trial-volunteers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # We Need One Million More Volunteers for the COVID-19 Vaccine Trials > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [Dr. David B. Agus](https://time.com/author/dr-david-b-agus/) ## Dr. David B. Agus Sep 30, 2020 6:25 PM UTC  Leyda Valentine, an assistant coordinator, takes blood from a volunteer as she participates in a COVID-19 vaccination study at Research Centers of America on Aug. 07 in Hollywood, Fl. Leyda Valentine, an assistant coordinator, takes blood from a volunteer as she participates in a COVID-19 vaccination study at Research Centers of America on Aug. 07 in Hollywood, Fl. Joe Raedle—Getty Images by [Dr. David B. Agus](https://time.com/author/dr-david-b-agus/) ## Dr. David B. Agus Sep 30, 2020 6:25 PM UTC We need one million more citizens to volunteer for the [COVID-19 vaccine trials](https://time.com/5887199/coronavirus-vaccine-race/). Almost half a million Americans have signed up to be part of the clinical trials, but in order to complete the study, the [COVID-19 Prevention Network](https://www.coronaviruspreventionnetwork.org/)—formed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health—will need more volunteers, and especially more volunteers from diverse backgrounds. The sooner the clinical trials finish accruing patients the sooner we will have results of the vaccine studies. I am a cancer doctor, but like many doctors and researchers have been called in to assist in any way we can to help the effort to fight COVID-19\. We are all seeing too much suffering from this devastating virus. While there are many clinical trials across the country working on treatments for COVID-19 and prevention strategies, few are as important as our national vaccine effort. I teamed with David Ellison, a Hollywood producer, and his amazing team, as well as the incomparable Harrison Ford, to put together a public service announcement to encourage every citizen to consider enrolling in the vaccine trial effort. To aid in this effort, the COVID-19 Prevention Network sent an email out to those that had already volunteered, asking them why they did it. What they received back was overwhelming: an outpouring of inspirational and emotional videos, each giving a personal reason for becoming part of the trials. It’s inspiring that we have seen so many Americans come forward to help one another and be part of the solution to COVID-19\. But, for the clinical trials to be completed, we need more volunteers. I am not a part of the COVID-19 Prevention Network, but am privileged to play my part to assist them fight this invisible enemy, and I so hope many others do the same. Please see [PreventCOVID.org](https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A%5F%5Fpreventcovid.org%5F&d=DwMGaQ&c=jGUuvAdBXp%5FVqQ6t0yah2g&r=gt%5FfANaGQv5oXgR8ENO7CD-JzHalt9KGbLx7IJQffR4&m=yyPz0kCep2R1shRFnVq9v0nw0k2JxIWH7ZBfk8TbdPA&s=Lrbb52v3GTPqRzzbyWUm8LSohyD43Fco7yfOUtXVwfU&e=) for more information and to register for the trial. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5894798/need-volunteers-covid-19-vaccine-trials/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5894798/need-volunteers-covid-19-vaccine-trials/"},"headline":"We Need One Million More Volunteers for the COVID-19 Vaccine Trials","datePublished":"2020-09-30T18:25:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T09:16:15.076Z","description":"In order to have effective vaccine trials, America needs another one million volunteers to sign up, especially from diverse backgrounds.","url":"https://time.com/5894798/need-volunteers-covid-19-vaccine-trials/","keywords":["COVID-19"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt435946b46c55440b/698a12b0656a3fc73ebda8c7/covid-vaccine-trial-volunteers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dr. David B. 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