THE TRIALS OF THE CENTURY

Fueled by hope and a desire to bring an end to the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of San Diego volunteers are signing up for one of the four COVID-19 vaccine trials being conducted in the United States. The Union-tribune spoke to dozens of local volunteers who are participating in the trials.

From San Diego to São Paulo to South Africa, tens of thousands of volunteers are taking part in clinical trials that could lead to a vaccine for the worst pandemic humanity has faced in a century. ■ There are four such trials in the United States, testing COVID-19 vaccines developed by Astrazeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer. San Diego is part of all of them. ■ The local study sites aim to enroll at least 5,600 participants. For many of these trials, that means San Diegans could make up about 5 percent of the national and international studies — an outsized punch for a county with 0.04 percent of the world’s population. ■ Faith in a COVID-19 vaccine has wavered in recent months, with some worried that science has been polluted by politics. That’s made it particularly difficult for these trials to recruit participants from minority communities that have long been excluded from medical research and, in other moments, coerced into unethical studies. ■ Nonetheless, thousands of San Diegans have signed up for these historic trials. We spoke with dozens of volunteers to understand why they’re participating. ■ Here are five of their stories.