Austin Moderna trial participant shares excitement about vaccine's success
It’s been over two months since Abby Strite volunteered to take part in an Austin-based trial for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
“It felt like a no brainer to me that I could help the community and help science, and move this along as fast as it could at very little risk to myself,” said Strite.
Strite took part in a double-blind trial, which means participants were given a placebo or vaccine injection without their knowledge of which one they were getting.
“28 days after the first one. I went back to the clinic and had a second injection,” said Strite. “I would update any symptoms in an app every single day for seven days following that injection. And then weekly have a phone call with a trial doctor.”
Now, Strite is learning that trials like hers are already showing promising results. Moderna announced Monday that their vaccine is 94.5% effective against the virus. This comes just one week since Pfizer said it’s vaccine was 90% effective.
“This is so exciting. I hoped that this would be the case, because [of] the Pfizer results that came out last week,” said Strite. “I know the Moderna trial and the Pfizer vaccines are using very similar technology."
“Both the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine as well as the Moderna vaccine, they’re base on an mRNA platform,” said Dr. Sam Sun. “They’re a little bit different in terms of how exactly the mRNA is delivered into cells. And then the trial design is different.”
Dr. Sun is a resident physician at the Texas Medical Center and is the Director of InDemic Foundation, which is a nonprofit that analyzes collects information all COVID-19 vaccines and therapies.
“In terms of roll out, the Moderna vaccine should have a smoother roll out,” said.
Sun says this is in part because Moderna's vaccine does not need to be in ultra-cold storage like Pfizer’s.
“The Pfizer vaccine requires very cold temperatures, minus -70 or 80 degrees Celsius, that you can’t normally find in a consumer refrigerator or freezer,” he said. “Whereas the Moderna vaccine, it’s stable for up to 30 days at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, which you can find in your fridge. And it can be stored for six months at typical freezer temperatures, -20 degrees Celsius.”
There are other small differences between the two vaccines. In the Moderna trial, experts start to look for COVID-19 cases two weeks after the final dose of the vaccine. Pfizer starts looking at COVID-19 cases only a week after. Moderna’s time frame, thus, gives the subject a bit more time to develop immunity.
“It’s kind of a small difference , but it makes me trust the Moderna results a little more,” said Sun.
Still, Sun says both vaccines will be crucial in helping to speed up the timeline in which all citizens can get access.
On Monday, America's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said he expects Moderna's first vaccinations to begin in late December, which could likely go to health care and frontline workers.
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Strite she is still actively involved in the two-year study, from recording details about her health, and frequent phone calls with trial doctors.
“After the second injection, I had much more significant side effects,” she said. “I describe that it felt like a bad hangover. I was headachy, a little nauseous, slightly elevated temperature. And I just rested that day.”
However, she says she has felt normal ever since, which put her mind at ease that this vaccine will help protect her family and others in her community from COVID-19.
It looks like a light at the end of the tunnel,” said Strite. “I hope that people, when these are available, go get vaccinated.”
