Coronavirus vaccine test participants talk about the experience
WASHINGTON - Just days after Moderna announced its coronavirus vaccine is 94.5% effective, two Moderna vaccine trial participants are speaking out about their experience.
Out of the tens of thousands of participants in the phase 3 Moderna vaccine trial.
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Several hundred are locals, taking part in the study at George Washington University.
Fifty-six year old Anthony Miller from D.C. works for the Department of Transportation. He says he didn't have any major health issues going in, but was pretty thrilled to hear Modernas breaththrough results.
"Of course I was concerned about taking the vaccine, just about everybody that I talked to would tell me, I'm not gonna take it unless someone else takes it first. So I was relieved, elated, I was filled with joy,"said Miller.
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Miller has taken both doses of the vaccine and says he hasn't felt any significant symptoms outside of some soreness on his arm, where the shot was injected, and some nausea.
Miller encourages folks to not be concerned about the risks.
He says, "I would rather take my chances... than not have any ... when i had the chance, so i would tell that person to have some faith.
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Miller says he has to journal everyday, writing down his temperature, monitoring any aches and pains, and any adverse reactions. Each volunteer received two injections given 28 days apart.
This is a blind trial- so the participants don't know who's getting the actual vaccine, and whose getting the placebo. But 72 year old Bill Adams, a Moderna Vaccine volunteer and a GW professor tells Fox5 he's pretty certain he got the vaccine.
"I''m optimistic that I got the vaccine and not the saline placebo, and here's why. My second shot-- my shoulder was really sore, and what we're hearing is that tends to mean we got the actual vaccine," said Adams.
When we asked if he experienced any other symptoms?
"No, not really. I heard some people had fatigue, I had absolutely nothing, except a little soreness, like you do with a typical flu shot, so no problem at all" he said.
Some people are hesitant to take the vaccine, even if it was available today. This was Adam's message for those people:
"It's a good thing that past generations took the smallpox vaccine, took the polio vaccine and others that made our health in the 20th and 21st centuries better than any time in human history.... It's an opportunity to be liberated from this horrible plague we're faced with right now, it's an opportunity to build immunity in our whole society, in our whole country, do they want to be the weak links standing in the way of that or not? But I think the majority of Americans will get the vaccine" said Adams.
Adams because of his age-- 72 years old, and due to some prior health conditions would be considered high risk. But he too-- has had a smooth experience with the vaccine.
Reactions could include headache, body ache, fatigue, and sore muscles, but only about 5% have experienced that, and researchers say it's short lived.