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AmericaLuke Hutchison woke up in the middle of the night due to a fever, severe headaches and chills after testing the Covid-19 vaccine.
Hutchison is a 44-year-old biologist living in Utah. He said he signed up for a phase three trial because he feels he is doing well enough and has a lot of faith in the vaccine. In particular, he wanted to support Moderna’s efforts because he was fascinated with the RNA technology he was using. Despite being proven, the vaccine has the advantage of time and productivity. This is advantageous in a pandemic that has caused 1 million deaths.
“I strongly believe that it will work and I want to contribute to the solution,” Hutchison said.
But the testing process is not straightforward. After the first injection on August 18, he felt a bit uncomfortable and had a mild fever for a few days. He had a second chance at the clinic on September 15. Eight hours later, he was bedridden, had a 38.5-degree fever, had chills, had a severe headache, and had difficulty breathing. His biceps were swollen and painful, like a gunshot. Hutchison could barely sleep that night. After 12 hours, his condition returned to normal.
When you signed the vaccine trial pledge, you knew in advance that you would experience the unusual symptoms, but did not expect how severe they would be. “It was like having Covid-19 too,” he wrote on his personal page on September 16.
Many other volunteers who participated in Moderna’s trial reported similar side effects. A woman in her 50s in North Carolina said she did not have a fever, but had a severe migraine. This left her exhausted and unable to concentrate throughout the day. He woke up the next morning, feeling better after taking painkillers. She suggests Moderna should recommend that volunteers take a day off after taking a second dose.
Biologist Luke Hutchison has volunteered for Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine trial since August 2020. Image: Luke hutchison
“If these symptoms mean that the vaccine is effective, the volunteers will have to be tougher. The first dose is not a big deal. But the second dose will surely leave you exhausted all day. You need to rest. Days after the injection,” he said .
For young people, the situation is not much better. A 20-year-old man who lives in Maryland said he only felt nauseous after the first shot. With the second dose, he woke up at 1 a.m. with chills, a fever of 40 degrees Celsius, which subsided after taking the drug, but persisted until 8 at night. He reported his symptoms and Moderna responded quickly.
“I’m not sure if I need to go to the hospital or not, because the 40 degree fever is quite high. But other than that, everything is fine,” he said.
A phase one study by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer found that volunteers may experience “a brief fever, mostly mild to moderate.” But many of the trial participants experienced more severe symptoms than expected.
One volunteer said he stayed up all night after the first injection due to pain in his biceps. The severe flu-like symptoms soon arrived around 1 am His expression was so intense that he broke a part of his teeth.
“Just lying in bed is very painful,” he said.
Still, he advocates for the vaccine, saying that if he understands the symptoms beforehand, he’ll sign up for a test injection over the weekend to get two days off. You think the virus infection could be much worse than this.
“If the vaccine is approved, I think everyone should get vaccinated. I also hope that the company will clarify the cause of the side effects,” he said.
Moderna and Pfizer admit that their vaccines have side effects similar to mild Covid-19, such as muscle aches, chills and headaches. In clinical trials, some drug companies stopped giving the highest dose after receiving reports of more severe symptoms.
Moderna’s side effects are “uncomfortable, but not dangerous,” said Dr. Florian Krammer, an infectious disease specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
The Covid-19 vaccine is not the first to induce a brief reaction in some users. “The simple fact is that some vaccines are more difficult to use than others,” said Helen Branswell, medical editor of Stat News.
Pfizer Vaccine Testing Volunteer, May 2020. Image: AP
The Pfizer vaccine has mild to moderate symptoms that can occur in people taking doses of 30 mcg. “The company has not identified any risks during the study. As discussed above, the safety and tolerability of the vaccines are continuously monitored by qualified personnel and a data review committee. External independence.”
However, Hutchison biologists and volunteers are still concerned that manufacturers have not fully informed the public about the side effects of the products. He said that if the vaccine is approved in the short term, it will generate a wide stream of conflicting opinions. Surveys have shown that around 35% of Americans say they will not get the Covid-19 vaccine, mainly due to a lack of confidence. That is why Mr. Hutchison, despite advocating for vaccination, is still deciding to go public with his experience at this time.
The White House has launched a “Quick Campaign” to get a vaccine to market in record time. This raises concerns that pharmaceutical companies may take a shortcut to get to the product more quickly. President Donald Trump’s push for vaccines ahead of the Nov. 3 election has not improved the situation. The companies have been trying to allay public suspicions by signing a joint statement in September, pledging to side with science rather than politics.
Kolina Koltai, a vaccine researcher at the University of Washington, says that speeding up the pace of an inherently long campaign like a vaccine can backfire, even if trials are successful.
Thuc Linh (Follow CNBC)
