Corona Daily 374: A Vaccine Guinea Pig’s Firsthand Experience

Richard Fisher is a science journalist with the BBC. In May, he came across a tweet of an Oxford University philosopher who had enrolled for the vaccine trial. Fisher, his journalistic curiosity aroused, signed up on the website, filled out a questionnaire about his medical history and got an appointment in St George’s Hospital in south London.

On 26 June, a masked hospital attendant holding up a sign “vaccine trial” welcomed him. In the neurology ward, now redone for the Oxford trial, Matthew Snape, a leading scientist made a presentation on a large screen. Snape explained what the volunteers can and can’t do, the science behind the vaccines, possible side-effects, experimental and control groups.

Snape also explained how they took a flu virus from a chimpanzee and genetically altered it to make proteins from the Covid-19 virus.

The volunteers were briefed about the risks, and the theoretical possibility of the vaccine making the effects of the coronavirus worse.

After the video presentation, Fisher was questioned in-depth about his medical history, if he had symptoms of coronavirus. He gave his blood sample, and signed a consent form with various undertakings, e.g. he won’t donate blood in the next twelve months. (A woman, as I wrote yesterday, must undertake not to be pregnant in the next twelve months). One line on the form says: ‘I agree that the samples collected will be considered a gift to Oxford University.’ This made Fisher smile knowing some participants would be asked to give stool samples.

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A week later, on 3 July, Fisher once again appeared in the windowless room at St George’s. Once again, they went through his medical history, then took more blood. Galiza, a pediatric vaccine researcher came in with a vial. Smiling through her mask, she injected the trial vaccine in Fisher’s arm. Neither Fisher nor Galiza knew whether it was the test vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, or the dummy vaccine. (The trial is using MenACWY vaccine given against meningitis or sepsis as a control vaccine.)

Fisher became part of the 10,000 volunteers who risk encountering the killer virus for the greater good of the world. Apart from the UK, similar large-scale trials are happening in Brazil and South Africa, with USA next on the agenda.

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Seven days later, on 10 July, Fisher needed to rub his tonsils with a cotton bud swab, without touching his teeth or tongue, and then stick the same stick deep up his nose. Once the uncomfortable nasal swab was taken, he sealed it and placed it into a security-sealed box “Biological Substance Category B”. Royal Mail UK has provided those special boxes for home tests. Along with the swab, he also answered a questionnaire about his behavior in the previous week. Did he use public transport? Did he spend more than five hours with anyone from outside his family? etc.

A few days later, he got a text message saying he tested negative.  

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Richard Fisher is required to repeat this routine once every week for at least four months, and visit the hospital regularly for blood tests over the next 12 months.

His firsthand account gives us some idea about the tediousness of the vaccine process. Before developing a level of confidence to give a shot in the arms of a few billion, the world will need lots of data and lots of patience.

Ravi