A few weeks ago, I got called to participate in a pandemic vaccine study. It was a hard decision whether or not to participate: on the pro side, I’d make a few dollars and I’d potentially get a vaccine before anyone else. On the con, I was worried I’d have a negative physical or mental reaction to participating.
I asked friends their opinions. Everyone in the scientific or medical field told me I’d be fine. Others had various answers:
“Don’t do it! You could end up on dialysis, or worse!”
“The RNA transcription in the vaccine will mess you up!”
After ruminating, I decided to participate. It was a blind study, with 50% of participants getting a placebo and 50% getting a vaccine. I had a 50% chance of getting a vaccine before everyone else! As my brother says, “You’ll be superhuman!”
At my first appointment, I got injected, detected, infected, neglected and selected!
It was a long two hours. First my temperature was taken, before I could even enter the building. Then, I had to fill out a stack of paperwork. I think there were at least 100 pages. Then I had to sign my name and write down the current date about 20 times, in this madly precise way with a black pen (they didn’t let me use my purple Planet Fitness pen). All my zeros had to look the same: I’d put lines through some of them so I had to put lines through all of them. A loquacious medical assistant asked me a million questions and told me a bunch of details about the study.
Next, a doctor came in and gave me a strange, minimally-invasive physical where it appeared he was testing my muscle strength but not much else. Then he gave me a Covid test via nasal swab. I was worried the nasal swab would be painful due to horror stories I’d heard, but it wasn’t painful at all. I think the doctor might have been exceptionally skilled at it. Then he thanked me for helping humanity. Finally, a vampire sucked my blood, and I was given a vaccine shot. Afterward, I had to sit there for 30 minutes to prove I wouldn’t have a negative reaction to the vaccine.
After the first injection, I had a small bruise that lasted about two weeks. I also had some pain the next morning when I tried to lift weights. My legs felt like they were filled with metal when I went jogging. I had a mild sore throat and swollen glands in my neck for about an hour. However, the symptoms seemed minimal and I wasn’t sure if I even attributed them to the (possible) vaccine.
Three weeks after the initial appointment, I went back for a second vaccine shot. This appointment lasted about 1.5 hours. First I had my temperate taken, and it was normal. Next, I went in, and a medical assistant talked to me, but she was much less loquacious than the last one, and she just asked me the basic questions. I thought that was protocol to have a shorter “description” at the second appointment, but then I overheard Ms. Chatterbox in the next room giving a long description and rundown to another patient who was also on her second appointment. This present assistant just asked me if I’d gotten a flu shot (I’m not allowed to get one for 2 more weeks.) When I said, “of course not,” she said that some had gotten one, anyways. I didn’t ask if they were kicked out of the study.
I tried to tell the medical assistant about my minimal side effects, and she kind of brushed them off. Then she left, and I waited with my Amazon kindle. After 30 minutes the doctor came in, and I told him about my side effects, but he brushed them off as well.
I don’t think they care about my side effects for this Phase III trial — they are really only looking at antibodies. At least that’s my impression.
The doctor gave me a Covid nasal swab, and again it didn’t hurt. I was then administered vaccine shot #2. When they administered the vaccine shot, they wanted to use my non-dominant arm. Unfortunately, I’m ambidextrous and it was hard to decide. Ultimately they chose my right arm. That might have been a mistake.
After that, they paid me and then scheduled my next appointment. On my next several appointments, they will just be testing my antibodies, so they will be very brief appointments. The other aspects of the study (paperwork, physicals, vaccine shots) are finished.
I felt ok for the rest of the day, but the spot on my arm where I got the shot hurt a little bit. That evening, I ran 5 miles and drank two beers at a nearby brewery.
The next morning, I woke up with the most terrible pain in my right arm – I could barely move it! I also felt very warm. They’d given me a thermometer, so I took my temperature. I was distressed to discover I had a fever of 99.8. Folk wisdom is the “average” body temperature is 98.6, but apparently now in in 2020, it’s more like 97.7. My typical temperate is around 97.1 so I was worried: was it a reaction to the vaccine? What if I had Covid? I was freaking out. I was having cold and hot flashes, and my lips were a little blue (though that is typical of me when I’m cold – I’m a bit of an albino, hehe.)
A doctor friend said that sometimes the placebo is not inert – it’s possible that it’s an immune-system stimulant. You can get a fever, even if it’s just from the placebo. So even if I had a placebo shot, it’s possible I had a powerful reaction to it.
I was stressed about the fever, so I took it easy for much of the day. I took a couple work breaks to lie down on the floor and play with our foster kitties, and by evening my temperature was normal again.
The next morning, I took my temperature again and it was back down to a more typical 97.6, so I was much less worried. The fever scared me – I have been around some people. Quarantining involves much less liability, because if you do get sick, you have way fewer people to contact. That’s my experience with the trial, so far.
Shbieue