First Covid-19 vaccine trial recipients reveal what the side effects are like

Volunteers from the coronavirus vaccine trial have revealed what it feels like and what the side effects are.

The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its partner BioNTech ran a phase three trial across six countries with 43,500 people.

Matt Hancock told the Commons that the focus was on delivering the vaccines from Oxford and Pfizer if they pass safety tests and are approved by regulators.

A 45-year-old from Missouri in the US who took part in the trial said: “There are so many people who have had [Covid-19] and suffered. 

“The thought that we could do something to stop people from suffering from this, from losing family members, that we could get rid of it and get back to some sort of normal in our lives – that’s a driving factor for this for me.

“I don’t want anyone else to be sick.”

Carried suffered a few side effects after her first jab, including a headache, fever and aches over her body, which is comparable to a flu jab. She said the side effects were more severe after the second. 

Glenn Deshield from Texas likened the side effects to a ‘severe hangover’. 

Bryan from Rome, Georgia said taking part in the study was ‘the least I could do to help out’, as ‘a lot of people are needlessly suffering from the virus’. 

He said he believes he was given the placebo as he felt no immune response and after receiving two shots came down with Covid last month. His whole family ultimately caught the virus but they all recovered.

Pfizer’s vaccine does not contain any live virus, instead it holds a small part of the genetic code for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, with the goal of preventing Covid-19 disease through generating an immune system response. 

Approximately 42% of the overall participants in the trial have ‘diverse backgrounds’ (Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latinx, Native American), achieved through selecting investigative sites in diverse communities in the US.

This was to ensure the individual communities that have been disproportionately affected by Covid-19 had the opportunity to participate in the trial. 

Once the vaccine is approved, it is hoped they will supply 1.3 billion doses globally by the end of 2021. Individual governments and local authorities will determine the provision and distribution of the vaccine as they feel appropriate within the populations.