COVID-19 vaccine trial participant shares his experience
Being part of a COVID-19 vaccine trial
A COVID-19 vaccine trial participant shares his experience with FOX 26.
HOUSTON - Thousands across the country have volunteered to be among the first people to test out a COVID-19 vaccine. Phase 3 of Moderna’s clinical trial began in July at 90 sites nationwide including Baylor College of Medicine.
Among the volunteers are 39-year-old James Palma and his twin brother, Francisco. The two are originally from Colombia but have been living in Houston for the last two years.
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"Somebody has to do it. Somebody has to do it," Palma said.
Signing up as a volunteer for Moderna’s clinical COVID-19 vaccine trial was a selfless decision for James Palma.
"I think it was the same like when I signed up to be in the army in Colombia. Oh, I want it. I signed it and that’s it. Somebody has to do something," Palma said.
Both brothers are asthmatic and considered high-risk, which ironically, makes them ideal candidates.
On Monday, they received their first vaccine shot but are now experiencing completely different side effects a day later.
"Today I’m feeling pain in my shoulder. It’s not that I can’t move or do nothing but yes, I’m feeling a kind of pain in my shoulder," Palma said.
"I’ve been sharing some information with my brother. How are you feeling? How is the pain? And he’s telling me, 'I don’t feel nothing. I don’t have pain. I don’t have nothing, so probably you got the shot and I got the placebo. But we don’t know," Palma continued.
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None of the 30,000 volunteers participating in the trial nationwide know whether they’re receiving the actual vaccine test or a placebo.
Researchers say the primary goal is to prevent symptomatic infection.
Palma will now have to undergo frequent medical exams, physicals, blood tests and COVID-19 test swabs for the next two years, as researchers race to find an answer.
"We’re not getting infected with the disease. It’s something that’s going to teach my body how to create all these antigens we need to fight against the Coronavirus.
"I have to check my temperature every day. I have to carry this card with me. I have to put it in my wallet," Palma said.
Palma said he’s scheduled to receive a second vaccine shot at the end of September.