A nurse who volunteered for the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine Phase 3 trial detailed her experience throughout the process, as she suspected she received the experimental drug rather than a placebo.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is already available in the UK, where the country’s FDA equivalent approved the drug for emergency use. Some 800,000 doses have already been provided to British hospitals, and the first people who qualified for the vaccine were inoculated on Monday. Millions of others will follow in December, and tens of millions of UK citizens will ultimately get access to the drug next year. The FDA will probably issue an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the US after an independent review panel recommended the drug’s use on Thursday. The vaccine is highly efficacious, according to Phase 3 data. It’s also safe and generally well tolerated. But participants can expect side-effects, especially people younger than 55 and especially after the second shot. The BioNTech-made drug has a two-shot regimen, and the injections have to be given four weeks apart. A CDC review panel has already established the groups that will have priority to vaccination, but COVID-19 immunization will be voluntary. According to recent surveys, some people are still hesitant about coronavirus vaccines, and that’s one of the hurdles that governments will have to overcome. More than 70% of the population needs to be vaccinated so herd immunity can be reached. Perhaps the best way of building trust in the vaccine’s safety is hearing from Phase 3 volunteers who went through the experience. And it so happens that a nurse who registered for the trial published a must-read editorial in which she explains what her experience was, the side effects she encountered, and the reason why she thinks she got the real deal rather than the placebo shot.
