Yesterday, I entered the Phase 3 Trial for Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine. I’ve been moved by the stories of the people who have volunteered for these trials and suddenly decided I needed to do it as well. With the Pfizer vaccine approved under Emergency Use Authorization and Moderna’s on its heels, humanity may be preparing to find its way out of the Valley of Death. Some of the world’s smartest, most curious and diligent minds are trying desperately to save the rest of us from ourselves. We can’t be bothered to follow basic public health measures, and instead have chosen to become the contagion. We are the carriers; breathing our infected germs all over everyone else because we’re too stupid, or too stubborn, or too willfully ignorant to put a simple surgical mask on and stay away from each other.
Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is different from Pfizer and Moderna’s, which are based on messenger RNA technology. JNJ’s is an adenovirus vaccine; a vaccine made from another virus. In this case it’s the Ad26 adenovirus which causes only mild colds, but is very effective at invading human cells. They use it to carry the genetic instructions for creating the CoV-2 spike protein and inject it into us. We start making the spike protein, which causes our immune cells to create defenses to both kill infected cells, and set up barriers to entry into non-infected cells. The creation of this vaccine is a fascinating tale of technology, foresight, dedication and passion. Check it out here.
My experience so far has been excellent. A phone interview, followed by an in person interview covering all my medical history. A blood draw, brief physical and instructions for how to use the monitoring app I downloaded onto my phone. Then came the moment of truth: the syringe filled either with the COVID-19 vaccine, or salt water. I was given the shot in the thigh as the extensive tattooing covering my shoulders wouldn’t allow them to see any reaction at the injection sight (not that anyone checked to see if there was one on my thigh either). The trial is double-blinded, so neither the researcher who injected me nor I know if I got the real thing or the placebo, however since there is a vaccine out in production now, should it become available to me while I’m still in the trial, I can contact them and request they un-blind my result and they will tell me if I had the vaccine or the placebo. That way I could choose to get the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine if I was a placebo recipient, or they could offer me the JNJ vaccine if it has been approved at that point. My trial lasts two years.
I’m pretty excited to be a part of this as it feels historic. With 7 billion+ people on the planet, we’re going to need a lot of vaccines and I’m hopeful Johnson & Johnson’s is effective and will be available to everyone. Now for the preliminary guess as to whether I got the vaccine or not. I have fairly significant muscle aches, however I did work out hard on Monday so I may just be sore, but it doesn’t quite feel like DOMS. I slept well, but my Oura Ring reported my heart rate and body temperature were both slightly elevated overnight. I also have a runny nose, which could be a thing since the Ad26 base virus in the vaccine causes mild colds. I hate not knowing if I got the vaccine or not, but this is the price I pay for being part of a study to help humanity out of the slaughterhouse.
One of the Oura Ring research projects I’m enrolled in never received the antibody test I mailed them, so they’re sending me another. Interesting timing, as it may tip me off on whether I got the real deal or not if I show antibodies to the CoV-2 virus. We shall see.
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