opioid crisis

Scientists Eye Opioid Vaccine as a Shot to Stem Overdose Epidemic

At least three research groups nationwide have begun work on vaccines to prevent opioid overdoses

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Editor's note: This is an excerpt from an NBC News report. Read the full article here.

The vaccination felt like most others — a slight pinprick in M.'s  upper arm, followed by the application of a Band-Aid and advice to monitor the injection site for any unusual reactions.

The vaccine, however, is unlike any other. It's not meant to protect against the coronavirus, or any germ, for that matter. 

It is meant to protect against a deadly opioid overdose.

When M. (who requested that her full name not be used to protect her identity) got the shot this Tuesday, she became just the sixth person to receive it.

"It's very powerful now that I think about it," she said of participating in the trial, just a few hours after getting the vaccine. 

The trial — the first to test the safety and potential effectiveness of an opioid vaccine in humans — is being led by Sandra Comer, a professor of neurobiology in the department of psychiatry at Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Marco Pravetoni, of the University of Minnesota Medical School. 

Read the full story here at NBCNews.com

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