First COVID-19 vaccine volunteers in the United States describe their experience as Bay Area launches vaccine testing
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — As we first reported on ABC7 News, the AstraZeneca vaccine Phase 3 trial will begin this month in the Bay Area. It is one of six businesses that is part of Operation Warp Speed by the U.S. government to create a vaccine.
The Department of Public Health in San Francisco is recruiting people to volunteer for the AstraZeneca trial, so to get an idea of what the participants may expect, ABC7 news reporter Kate Larsen talked to the first people ever injected with a trial vaccine in the United States.
Jennifer, Neal, Ian and Judy are all participating in COVID-19 vaccine trials developed by Moderna and the federal government located in Massachusetts.
Jennifer Haller, a Seattle native, was the first person in the U.S. to have the experimental vaccine administered on March 16.
"I now look back with nostalgia at the time, and realize how important it really was," Haller said.
Neal Browning was second in line for Phase 1 trial in the Seattle area.
"There was a certain trepidation at first," he said. "I knew this hadn't been tried on animals before. They were both the first human and the first animal experiments. I felt more and more comfortable about what was going on every day, leading to the one week point after the first injection."
Browning and Haller claim they have never had any side effects except mild shoulder pain at the injection site.
"I feel fine, no side effects to me," Haller said.
Moderna tested the vaccine to three doses. Every attendee received two injections, one month apart. Ian Haydon has received the highest dose, ten times that of Jennifer and the low dose of Neal.
"With the first injection, what I had was a little bit of arm pain in my shoulder where I had the shot, but a month later with the second injection, I had some more complications. I had a fever for around 24 hours and a headache, some nausea, stuff like that," Haydon explained.
Haydon, a fit 29-year-old, has also fainted at home after an urgent care ride. "I had some bloodwork done, they just gave me a COVID-19 check because it wasn't obvious at the time what was going on with me."
Haydon tested COVID-negative. "It was obvious a few days later that I had too much of an allergic response to the high vaccine dose."
Haydon says Moderna is no longer investigating the dosage of 250 micrograms because of the side effects he and a few other high-dose participants encountered.
The company opted to move forward with Phase 3 trials using the mid 100 microgram dose, as the vaccine developed a "rapid and fast immune response" in all 45 individuals tested during Phase 1, regardless of the dose they got.
"Because Ian was one of the first 45 people, I followed the court," Sacramento resident, Judy Stokes said.
Stokes is mom of Haydon. She signed up for the Phase 3 trial of Moderna, motivated by her friend, when it was revealed in Sacramento.
"I wasn't sure if they wanted me, necessarily," she said. "I'm 68 and I'm suffering from heart failure and high blood pressure, but it turns out that's just who they expected.
They wanted a larger population base and others more susceptible to the virus.
Last week she had her first dose and doesn't know whether she received the vaccine or a placebo. "They 're testing us and they're going to stay for two years, that's almost like an extra incentive."
In addition to sore shoulders on day of injection, all four participants share a positive perspective on the vaccine trials.
"We all want a coronavirus vaccine but we won't get one unless people volunteer to participate," Haydon said.
Once Haller and Browning were asked by reporter Kate Larsen if they would volunteer again, Haller said, "Yeah, definitely," and Browning replied, "Same here."
Stokes says it's the Moderna vaccine or something else, she thinks one of the trials will prove positive. "I feel optimistic, I feel positive, either one or the other."