The U.S. government has reserved up to 700,000 doses of a monoclonal antibody cocktail against the COVID-19 virus discovered at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and developed by AstraZeneca, officials have announced.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is participating in a national phase 1 clinical trial in healthy adults of an investigational vaccine against the B.1.351 variant of the COVID-19 virus that was first identified in South Africa.

The discovery of monoclonal antibodies that neutralize Rift Valley Fever Virus — an emerging infection with pandemic potential — lays the foundation for future therapeutic antibody development.

Despite an impressive vaccination effort that exceeds 2 million shots a day, rates of COVID-19 are again on the rise in several parts of the United States, as is the spread of highly transmissible variants of the virus.

Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is set to begin a phase 2/3 clinical trial to study the safety and efficacy of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in children.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is recruiting volunteers for a randomized controlled phase 2 clinical trial to help determine the prevalence of systemic allergic reactions (SARS) to the two-dose COVID-19 mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

Evotec, a drug company headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, has begun a phase 1 clinical trial of a monoclonal antibody against the chikungunya virus that was identified at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.