- Jenny Hamilton is a 57-year-old former police officer who now works in location security for the film industry and lives in Atlanta.
- He is a participant in the Pfizer vaccine trial, which recently developed the first effective coronavirus vaccine of record time.
- After taking the first two injections, Hamilton said she felt like she had a cold – low-level favors, fatigue and muscle aches.
- “I’m excited that others will get some protection,” Hamilte told Business Insider.
- Her experience has been as she said to Ren Lee.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
A member of my family is a nurse who received COVID-19 in early-mid-May. We kind of expect that because they visit a lot of people in assisted living facilities and nursing homes, so we felt like they were waiting for the shoes to drop.
It was very thoughtful for us as a family. They got lighter form, which was lucky for us. They have some other survival conditions that put them at greater risk for a more serious outcome.
Since we were contacted in January, I have always seen the epidemic of the century as the epidemic of the century.
Although I was originally in the running high-risk category for COVID-19, I was thinking about what I could do to help. I have asthma and Hashimoto, an autoimmune condition.
I actively wanted to be a part of this. First and foremost, there is a mono chance to help your fellow citizens and to be able to advance a therapeutic or vaccine that saves people from death. I haven’t really thought about it twice. It was something I discovered, and I did it mainly because my family members were nurses.
They didn’t make it easy. I searched for information on where the trial was taking place and waited for details to come out on how I could sign up for the hearing. I heard others sign up to participate, and I wanted to know where they were getting that information from.
There are three facilities in the Atlanta area that are being studied. I participate through Clinical Research Atlanta in Stockbridge, Georgia.
read more: We just got our first evidence that the coronavirus vaccine works. Here is all we know about the race for the vaccine and when you can get a shot.
Eventually I went to their website and filled out a small survey. I was called the next day.
I was finally accepted into the trial in mid-August.
I’m taking part in the Pfizer trial, where we get two doses.
They asked me group questions and tested me for COVID-19 as part of the test. They drew blood and they gave me the first injection. At the time, I didn’t know if I was getting a placebo or a vaccine, but that night I knew. I started to get really tired. The next day I was really tired, and then I started having a fever. My temperature was 99, about 100 to 100 degrees for three days.
After the first injection, I waited three weeks and got a second injection in early September. That was the scenario – I was Really Tired the next day. It was a little more serious, where I didn’t even mind getting up to fix something to eat. I just lay in bed and slept most of the day and still had a low-grade fever for two or three days.
After that, I’m fine. I am in the third phase of study. I drew blood a month after the last injection and in March I will get antibodies – or different responses with platelets and white blood cells – and another blood stream to determine what my body’s response is.
They ask you to fill out a diary.
Each time you receive an injection, you should consider in detail in your responses to what your side effects have been for seven days: what your temperature is, the pain, the pain, and on the scale, how severe it is.
read more: Biotech hunts for COVID-19 vaccines and has raised more than 1 1 billion this year by selling company stock. Here are the 27 leaders who have started the most.
If you get more than average on any of your questions, the study coordinator will arrive.
For example, one of my questions was about fatigue. When I put “serious” on fatigue, the study coordinator immediately texted me and wanted to get an idea of how I was doing. The same thing happened when my temperature was elevated for a long time after the second injection.
He basically said that the side effects for this particular vaccine are usually more severe than the second injection, so this was normal.
They are very good at moving forward with you.
It will ask you to call your study coordinator with specific entries in your diary. He immediately makes calls, wants to make sure you’re okay, and determines how serious your reactions are.
Those are the kind of things that comfort me.
Other than that, they don’t really talk to you. All they say is that if you feel bad, you can call at any time. Or if you feel you want to withdraw from the study, you can call immediately and he will be able to talk to you through it. They try to minimize situations where someone is scared or anxious.
I never felt out of it because the condition was a bit cold.
read more: Here are the 9 leading drug manufacturers rushing to develop a new type of coronavirus treatment despite the initial shock
Although I am in the last stage, the study will last for 2 years.
I have to fill out a diary once a week for at least two years. They want you to fill out a diary to see if you have any symptoms that make it look like you’ve got COVID-19. If you do, they test you to do a nasal swab and lift it.
The way they were explaining to me, the last line of blood they will do is in March.
read more: Read the timeline of when Pfizer’s new coronavirus vaccine could reach the general public – the process is likely to take months.)
Even though I feel like I have another level of protection, I still wear a mask. I’m really careful. I go out to eat often, but with the whole epidemic, it changes my understanding. I focus on restaurants that don’t wear masks and apply social distance. I make sure I keep myself socially away in places.
It is wonderful to think that the trial is coming close to producing a successful candidate for the vaccine. I’m excited that others will get some protection.
