The amount of funding, provided to Johns Hopkins Medicine from the U.S. Department of Defense, to test the effectiveness of a convalescent blood plasma outpatient treatment. The treatment is a transfusion of a blood product from COVID-19 survivors that contains antibodies that may help the patient’s immune system fight the virus. 

Two clinical trials totaling 1,100 people will be conducted at more than 20 outpatient centers in medical centers across the U.S., including the Navajo Nation, and will help researchers determine whether convalescent blood plasma therapy can effectively be used to treat people in the early stages of COVID-19 illness or prevent the infection in those at high risk of exposure to the virus at their home or jobs.