Dawn Baker was “a little nervous” but “really excited” Monday when she made history.
© CNN
A screenshot of CNN’s Elizabeth Cohen interviewing the first American participant to receive the Phase 3 trial vaccine from Moderna.
That morning, a news anchor at CNN-affiliated OMCC in Savannah, Georgia, Baker became the first volunteer to receive an injection in the first phase 3 clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine in the United States.
The many lives lost and impacted by the coronavirus pandemic inspired Baker to volunteer.
“This is really, for me, very encouraging the fact that I could be that person who could help save some lives. It has been very heartbreaking to hear of people who have lost their lives because of this,” Baker told the senior medical correspondent for CNN, Elizabeth Cohen. at the Meridian Clinical Research site in Savannah on Monday.
According to the Johns Hopkins University case count in the United States, there are more than 4.2 million confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, and at least 146,935 people have died.
“I never thought I would do something like this,” Baker said. “I just hope they are really, really good results. I know a lot of people are doing a lot of different vaccine trials.”
The race for a Covid-19 vaccine continues worldwide. Globally, according to the World Health Organization, at least 25 candidates for the Covid-19 vaccine are being tested in people. Five of them are in Phase 3 trials, the most advanced stage of testing before a vaccine is released.
Making history
The Modern biotechnology company and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, developed the Covid-19 research vaccine that is being tested in the Phase 3 trial in the United States. The trial will be conducted at 89 U.S. research sites, according to NIAID.
It is “the fastest from the time a virus, a pathogen was identified, to the time it actually enters a phase 3 trial, literally in the history of vaccination in the United States at least, and perhaps even around the world, “said NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci said during an NIH event on Facebook Live on Monday.
The Phase 3 trial is expected to enroll about 30,000 adult volunteers to assess whether the Moderna / NIH vaccine can safely prevent symptomatic Covid-19 after two doses, among other results. The volunteers will receive two injections of 100 micrograms of the vaccine or a placebo 28 days apart. The researchers and participants will not know who received the vaccine.
Baker was not told if she received the vaccine or a placebo. Moments after receiving her injection, Baker told CNN’s Cohen that “it was painless” and ended before she knew it.
While at the research site in Savannah, Baker thought of his colleague Lyndsey Gough, who is among those affected by the coronavirus.
Gough, a reporter for the WTOC news station, went from reporting the coronavirus to testing positive for Covid-19 in late June. Gough, 27, spent 11 days in the hospital battling the disease.
“It really broke my heart because she’s such a young, strong and energetic young lady that she’s just on fire for what she does, and seeing her later, she was very weak and also knew what could have happened to her.” She lost her appendix due to Covid, “Baker said, adding that Gough is now home.
‘We are all responsible for doing our part’
Monday was not the first time that Baker volunteered for a medical cause.
Baker participated in a medical mission to Ghana with the Goodness & Mercy Foundation, according to his biography on the website of the WTOC news station. She returned from that mission in June 2006. Then the following year, in February 2007, she participated in a medical mission to Guatemala with a group called Faith In Practice. A few months later, in September, she spent a week working with the Goodness & Mercy Foundation in Ajalli, Nigeria.
“I believe that we are all responsible for doing our part to improve our neighbor’s quality of life,” Baker wrote in his biography.
Now, Baker makes history not only as the first volunteer to receive a Phase 3 trial injection, but also as a volunteer black woman participating in the trial.
Black and brown communities have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Doctors are working to get a racially diverse group of volunteers to participate in the vaccine study.
“African Americans have a history of, for good reason, being concerned about medicine. In the past, we have been subjected to all kinds of experiments where we didn’t know what was going on,” Baker said. For example, in the infamous Tuskegee experiment, black men were subjected to a syphilis study without their consent, and they were not offered penicillin to treat their disease.
“I have heard many friends of mine and even family members say that, you know, ‘I will not be the first person to receive this vaccine. I do not want to be the guinea pig. I am going to wait and see what happens first. So they are very suspicious. So since I was at least brave enough to introduce myself right now, that could change that, that could eventually save their lives, “Baker said. “I hope maybe just seeing my face will help them change their opinions on that.”
Video: This is what Fauci thinks about the latest vaccine trial (CNN)
UNTIL NEXT TIME
Keep reading
