The San Francisco Department of Public Health encourages people to volunteer for the AstraZeneca trial, so to get an idea of what participants might expect, KGO-TV News reporter Kate Larsen spoke with the first people to ever inject have with a trial vaccine in the US
Jennifer, Neal, Ian and Judy, are all enrolled in trials for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Massachusetts-based biotech company Moderna and the federal government.
On March 16, Seattle resident Haller of Seattle was the first person in the U.S. to be injected with the experimental vaccine.
“When I look back on time now with backwardness, I realize how important it really was,” Haller said.
Neal Browning was second in a row for the Phase 1 trial, which took place in the Seattle area.
“At first there was something scary,” he said. “I knew this had not been tested on animals before. We were both the first trials with human and first animals. Every day progressing to that one week point after the first injection, I felt more and safer with what was happening.”
In addition to minor shoulder pain at the injection site, Browning and Haller say they never had any side effects.
“I feel fantastic, no side effects for me,” Haller said.
Moderna is testing three doses of the vaccine. Each participant received two injections, one month apart. Ian Haydon received the highest dose, ten times higher than the low dose of Jennifer and Neal.
“After the first injection only what I had was a little arm pain in the shoulder, where I got the shot, but for the second injection a month later I had some more problems.
About 24 hours I had a fever, and a headache, some nausea, things like that, “Haydon explained.
Haydon, a healthy 29-year-old, also struggled at home after a trip to emergency care. “I had done some blood work, they actually gave me a COVID-19 test because at the time it was not clear what was happening to me.”
Haydon tested negative for COVID. “A few days later it became clear that I had too much of an immune response to that high dose of the vaccine.”
Haydon says because of the side effects he and a few other high-dose participants experienced, Moderna is no longer testing that 250 microgram dose. The company chose to proceed with Phase 3 studies using the middle 100 microgram dose, because the vaccine produced a “rapid and strong immune response” in all 45 people tested in phase 1, regardless of the dose that they got it.
“I’ve been following trial since Ian was one of the first 45 people,” said Sacramento resident Judy Stokes.
Stokes is Haydon’s mother. Inspired by her son, she signed up for Moderna’s Phase 3 trial when it was announced in Sacramento.
“I was really not sure if they wanted me,” she said. “I’m 68 years old and I have heart disease and I have high blood pressure, but it turns out it’s exactly who they wanted. They wanted a diverse group of people and those more vulnerable to the virus.”
She received her first injection last week and does not know if she received the vaccine or a placebo. “They control us and will be two years, which is almost like an added bonus.”
In addition to sore shoulders on injection day, all four participants shared a similar view of the vaccine studies.
“We all want a coronavirus vaccine, but we will not get one unless people participate voluntarily,” Haydon said.
When reporter Kate Larsen, Haller and Browning asked if they would volunteer again, Haller said, “Yes, absolutely,” and Browning replied, “Same here.”
Stokes says whether it’s a vaccine from Moderna or another, she feels one of the trials will prove successful. “I feel hope, this one or another, I feel hope.”
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