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Comment by xwdv | Hacker News Reader

What if something goes horribly wrong and the vaccine trial causes unwanted side effects? Why risk it, what are they paying you?

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I'm receiving no money for my participation. I wasn't in the initial Phase I trial, a few hundred people had already received the vaccine before me with no unexpected side effects.

I guess I'm risking it because someone has to. Vaccine trials are incredibly safe and highly regulated. In reality, the worst-case was that it didn't work rather than my head exploding.

How do you prove to people you are in a vaccine trial, do you have a card?

I have a "red alert" card so if I'm found unconscious a paramedic knows to contact the study team to find out if I'm in the control arm or I've had the active vaccine so they can rule out if it's important to why I was found unconscious!

But it is just a piece of paper that the team printed out, and I think I lost it.

Paramedics won't go through your wallet anyways.

>> But it is just a piece of paper that the team printed out, and I think I lost it.

loses the single most important medical document that's going to save his life

It's in my iPhone medical ID which I carry round far more often than my wallet. (Paramedics almost always check that here in the UK)

The likelihood of it being of diagnostic usage is pretty low anyway. A vaccine is highly unlikely to cause the sort of reaction that means I won't be conscious.

> Why risk it?

It's worth pointing out that during a pandemic, while participating in a trial does carry a risk, so does not participating. A participant has some substantially greater probability* than the general population of avoiding an infection which apparently carries a risk of death or long term debilitating effects.

* You'll have to incorporate the probability of being in the control group, of course, but the overall probability is still significant.

Oh yeah, that's for sure. The idea that there's a pretty decent chance that I've been vaccinated already which means I don't have to wait for a vaccine is great.

My life can begin to go back to normal potentially months before it otherwise would.

Are participants eventually informed whether they’re in the treatment or control groups?

At the end of study.

>My life can begin to go back to normal potentially months before it otherwise would.

Howso? Socialization is a multi-party dynamic. Folks might not care/believe you if you state 'I'm vaccinated' until it's widely accepted.

Maybe I'm a dunce but I would believe a friend if they say they're vaccinated or already got covid.

Depends on your friends, I guess!

But what about all the folks at the club?

Right now, many, many folks don't seem to care that people aren't vaccinated either.

I'd assume that one would be socializing with the same groups of friends/family that they had pre-COVID. With that in mind, wouldn't OP have already established a foundation of trust within those groups? Maybe this sounds naive, but why have friends if they're not capable of trusting you?

> Maybe this sounds naive, but why have friends if they're not capable of trusting you?

You'd have to ask my friends. But they're all more interested and curious than suspicious!

There's a surprising number of comments about people trusting me.

It's interesting because that's, not once, ever been a concern. If people don't want to spend time with me until vaccination is more widespread, then that's fine. But the intersection between those who don't trust that I've been vaccinated and those who don't trust vaccination anyway is probably pretty large...

>It's worth pointing out that during a pandemic, while participating in a trial does carry a risk, so does not participating. A participant has some substantially greater probability* than the general population of avoiding an infection which apparently carries a risk of death or long term debilitating effects.

Participating also carries risks beyond simply that of the vaccine. Being exposed to any kind of healthcare setting is extremely dangerous right now. I'm taking part in the Moderna trial, and honestly I'm considering dropping out before the second injection. The risk of going into a clinic multiple times where I hear people coughing all over the place is starting to seem unacceptable to me given that I'm fairly certain I've been given the placebo.

FTR, most side effects appear (according to what Moderna published so far) only after the booster shot. So IMO you can't tell yet if you were given the vaccine or not.

Try purchasing a silicone/rubber P100 respirator before doing so? I don't think the supply is a big problem in the US anymore.

It's worth remembering that Phase 3 trials follow Phase 1/2 trials, and those earlier trials are responsible for assessing the general safety of the vaccine. Phase 3 helps assess safety concerns among a much larger and more diverse group of people, but it is primarily about proving efficacy. They don't give out tens of thousands of vaccines (Phase 3) without a lot of data already showing the vaccine is safe.

By the time human trials commence, we're as sure as we can be that it's safe. Due to how the system is set up at the governmental level, whenever any participant in the trial experiences adverse reactions, the trial is halted, until an explanation can be given. It's a serious concern that can and does lead to products not being approved by the FDA. Not being approved = loss of tens or sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars. People take this stuff very very very seriously :)

What if something goes horribly normally and you catch the virus the vaccine is supposed to prevent?

It's a risk tradeoff, different between the phases. I'd probably volunteer for a phase 3 trial if one was available in my area. Phase 1 would be a bit too hot for me.

I'd agree.

I wasn't interested in Phase I. My trial is Phase II/III. I was by no means the first to be vaccinated. Any major, common, reactions had already been pretty safely discounted.

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