A week ago I received at COVID-19 vaccine injection as a part of a Phase 1 clinical trial.
Basically this is same vaccine and trial described here except the trial has expanded to include an older age group. I am in a group receiving the highest dose 250 mcg. In a week I will be tested to antibodies. In a few weeks, I am supposed to receive a booster shot. The vaccine is called mRNA-1273 and has messenger RNA that is used by the virus to build the spikes it uses to attach to cells. There is no live or dead virus itself in the vaccine so there should be no danger of actually getting COVID-19. This is a Phase 1 trial. That means the objective is to determine if the vaccine is safe and has few or no side effects. It is not to determine the effectiveness of the vaccine. The effects I’ve noticed so far are not different from what one might experience with a routine flu shot.
Some may opposed to the use of vaccines. I would disagree with them. Vaccines are not risk-free but, on balance and if they are properly tested, I would say the benefit far outweighs the risk. I don’t think there is an either/or choice between vaccines and other natural remedies and common sense healthy living. We need to exercise, eat right, drink sufficient water, sleep well, etc. Even doing those things are not likely to make you immune to the virus even though they may somewhat mitigate its impact. In the case of COVID-19, it seems some of us are particularly susceptible to the disease and others not.
Whether this vaccine works and how well will probably not be known to any degree until Phase 2 trials. There is a very sobering interview with Donald McNeil about COVID-19 and the prospects for a vaccine. Apparently vaccines for coronaviruses are particularly difficult to make.
Broad Speculations 
Thank you for doing this. It’s heartening to know the trials are expanding. A vaccine seems like the best scenario we could hope for with this. I hope it works, and if so, they’re able to rapidly scale up production.
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Naturally I hope it works too. Or at least it does me no harm. 🙂
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I hope so too. Very best of luck.
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Reblogged this on SelfAwarePatterns.
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You’re a mensch. The risk you take (let’s hope it’s not much, and is outweighed by the benefit) benefits society as a whole.
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Thanks. I am hoping we know enough about making vaccines that it will likely work to some degree at least with little or no downside. It might not be surprising though this turns out to not be the most effective vaccine so it might not be the one that becomes widely distributed maybe a year or two from now.
Anyway I consider this low risk but not no risk.
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Marvellous that you are doing this, thank you.
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Thanks
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That’s great sir, how long will the phase 1 trial last?
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I think people are being selected for Phase 2 trials now. I will be tracked until next year with periodic blood draws. So it is mostly over except for the extended monitoring.
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Okay sir. All the very best👍
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I have shared some of my view points for the COVID-19 vaccine. Do give a read : http://travel807.home.blog/2020/06/03/covid-19-vaccine-round-the-corner/
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Excellent article.
You’re right there is no guarantee that this vaccine works or that if it does work it will provide extended protection for more than a few months. Mutations in the virus could also render the vaccine useless.
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True words sir. Thankyou.
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