I’d forgotten I am part of a ground-breaking vaccine trial
An email invitation to get a booster reminded Lottie Gross she’s still playing a part in beating Covid
If you want me to open an email instantly, there are a few words and phrases that’ll do the trick. One such word is “invitation”. So for a blissful second when I saw “invitation” pop up in my inbox a couple of weeks ago, I was delighted.
But upon further reading, my disappointment couldn’t have been greater. I had been selected for a booster vaccination as part of the Jenner Vaccine Centre’s Covid-19 trial.
I signed up to the Oxford trial way back in March after watching a news report on the development of the drug. With Oxford being my local hospital, it made sense that I should volunteer my relatively healthy body for their experiment.
I was rigorously screened with blood tests and health checks, and then in April I became one of the first 500 people to get an injection.
I don’t know what I’ve had – the trial is being done blind, meaning no one knows whether it was the Covid-19 vaccine or the control vaccine (a meningitis drug) – but I’ve certainly had no symptoms of the virus so far.
It had actually been such a long time since my last appointment that I’d forgotten I was part of this ground-breaking trial. It was business as usual for me – enjoying the lockdown easing and moving house – until I got that email.
“Although during a pandemic it would be preferable to give a single dose of vaccine,” read the message, “data from this vaccine trial... suggests that two doses of vaccine stimulates the immune system more than a single dose.”
This raised all sorts of alarm bells in my entirely unqualified head. What does this mean for the trial?
Has the vaccine been ineffective so far? If they’re offering me a booster, does this mean I actually had the Covid vaccine in the first instance?
The answer to that last question is no: the boosters are also blind, meaning they’re offering second jabs to both Covid vaccine recipients and control drug participants. I still have no idea which one I’ve had.
“Have you tried to guess?” asked the doctor, as she took more blood samples before they administered my second dose on booster day. I have, of course.
I’ve scrutinised interactions I’ve had with the trial doctors, and assessed the likelihood that I’ve come into contact with the virus. How could I not have on my trip to Spain in July? Still, I won’t find out until the trial ends in 2021. Booster day was another morning of poking and prodding with needles and peeing in pots. “Well, that’s positive,” exclaimed the doctor as she merrily strolled back with my pregnancy test sample.
A look of confused horror shot across my face until she corrected herself: “It’s positive that it’s negative, I mean.” Phew.
She was, as most of the staff at the Oxford Vaccine Centre have been throughout this process, incredibly chirpy. There’s a sense that everyone is thrilled to be working on this.
Early reports suggest the vaccine does induce an immune response, and the boosters are now being given to stimulate an even bigger reaction. The more the better, I suppose?
“There are over 12,000 volunteers now,” the doctor told me. With around 5,000 of those coming through the Oxford research centre, they’ve had to build a mobile clinic in the car park to handle the capacity.
I am awed. When I signed up they were testing just 500 people.
I had to sign a host of new forms, including one that asked if I’d be happy to package a stool sample into a special refrigerated box and send it off to the US should I get Covid-19. Apparently, they have found evidence of the virus shedding through faeces. Seeing as I couldn’t make my big American road trip earlier this year, at least some part of me might be able to, I thought.
After around an hour with the doctor I was ready for the injection, so I was ferried into a closed consultation room, where my loaded syringe was waiting. I moved into another room for observation to ensure I didn’t have any adverse reactions, and then I was sent on my way. It was all so easy.
I’ll go back in a month for a check-up, again in three months, then a year later. Hopefully, sometime before then the trial will come to a conclusion, the vaccine will be approved, and we’ll finally be able to get on with our lives.
I still have no idea if I am being given the Covid-19 vaccine or the control vaccine