Novavax is one of the new anti-Covid vaccines that is in the process of being prepared for authorization for use, and below you can see the experience that a person who participated in the testing of this serum had before approval for he.
"To read! Experience of a volunteer in clinical trials for a vaccine against COVID. "Yesterday was my last day as a volunteer in the Novavax study. I tested a new covid vaccine, received two doses of vaccine and two doses of placebo at different times and had blood drawn for tests about once every 6 weeks. I have completed a year and 2 months of volunteering dedicated to the memory of my father, killed by Covid. An incredibly emotional year and a bit, and I want to share with you some highlights for me in the study.
The most important thing I want to tell you about is the placebo effect. I never believed how great the power of our thoughts is. How much our beliefs can affect us physically. I think until I experience it myself, placebo sounds a little shallow to me.
I received the first doses of the serum last year in November. I was so convinced that I had received the vaccine, that a few hours after administration, the menu of adverse effects began: fever, vomiting, muscle pain, fainting, skin rashes, palpitations, coughing, difficulty breathing. At night I had chills, in the morning I fainted again in the bathroom. I coughed continuously for several days. I was obviously tested, consulted, re-consulted by doctors.
After the second dose, the scenario repeated itself.
In the application where each volunteer mentioned the side effects, I think I wrote daily and filled the reporting column. My husband, also a volunteer, had nothing but a good night's sleep after taking the serum.
The second stage, called cross-over, those who in the first stage received the vaccine, now receive the placebo, and vice versa. In the second stage, apart from a huge craving for coffee, I experienced nothing interesting. Not even pain at the injection site.
When the moment of unblinding came, I felt like the last sucker when I found out that in the first phase I received physiological serum. I got two doses of saline and acted like all the dreams, and all the pains and chokes and blackouts of life were caused by my panicked/excited/anxious mind.
I passed out, I had a fever (38.3), I was sick, do you understand? Yes, that's how placebos work.
Most side effects were reported by placebo recipients. We have about 50.000 volunteers in this study, on all continents, and apart from about 8 (eight) gallstone attacks, reported by people with existing gallstones, there are no side effects reported by vaccine recipients.
Yes, I also did an antibody test, and I have a 5 digit number. Let me live.
And because the whole process of approving the vaccine produced by Novavax is delayed, the NHS (UK National Health Service) decided to do two more doses of Pfizer to have a full vaccination schedule so that we can travel. My husband also had a J&J in the meantime, he catches him at the end of the year with 3 full vaccination schedules.
I wanted to share these moments to assure you that the vaccine, whatever it is, is safe, studied incredibly carefully, that every approval is given only after flawless results in studies, that not even the slightest error is made, and that not even the smallest step is skipped. I witnessed what it means to follow 100% rules, precision and thoroughness, rigorous and careful study and hard work.
That's the Novavax volunteer experience in a nutshell. I am proud to have been a part of this study, to have made a small contribution to something great, and to honor my father's memory. I am preparing for a new volunteering, and I hope to be among those who put their shoulder to defeating another terrible disease, Alzheimer's type dementia.
Get vaccinated. Be responsible.” Silvia C.”
