'Why I decided to take part in the new Covid-19 vaccine trial at Blackpool Victoria Hospital'
Pandemic. Quarantine. Lockdown. Face masks. Stay at home order.
The list could continue until the end of this page.
But as I flicked through a patient information and consent form, waiting to be stuck in the arm with a mystery vaccine, I found myself reading and re-reading one particular sentence: “The virus strain used in this vaccine was derived from a Chinese tourist from Hubei who was diagnosed in a hospital in Rome, Italy.”
And yet I wasn’t apprehensive. I felt fortunate.
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Hide AdAs I walked up to the Lancashire Cardiac Centre in the sunshine early this morning, strolling past the rubble remains of the former Parkwood unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, I knew the best part of a thousand people had died with Covid just yards away.
I was to become the fifth patient to be given VLA2001, the Covid-19 trial vaccine from French firm Valneva... possibly.
It’s a 50/50 chance I was injected with inactivated Covid, which is the old fashioned approach Valneva is taking with its jab, or Oxford/AstraZeneca’s vaccine, itself derived from genetically modified chimp virus.
Filling in forms came first, with blood and urine samples taken next.
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Hide AdMy blood pressure – a little high, thanks to white coat syndrome – and pulse – much lower thanks to my lockdown running – was recorded.
My weight and height – I seem to have lost an inch, I used to be six foot, honest – noted also.
And then came the tiny scratch the conspiracy theorists claim will implant a microchip but the highly-trained and trustworthy boffins insist will bring to an end the disease that has plagued the planet.
It was the easiest part of the process, though not the best.
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Hide AdThat came shortly afterwards, when the details of my bank account were taken and the schedule of payments given.
£600 to save my life?! I’d like to do this twice, I thought as I sat with a bottle of water and biscuit.
Following some final observations, with my blood pressure back at a healthier level, and around 90 minutes after first walking through the doors, I was allowed to go home.
I’m writing this several hours later, free of signs of any side effects save from a headache which was banished with paracetamol.
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Hide AdOn my fridge is a piece of blue card reminding me I have a second jab booked in at the end of the month.
Have I really just been paid to be fully vaccinated, as a healthy guy in his early – alright, mid – 30s by the summer?
It’s hard to believe, but yes.
Now I can’t speak about the effectiveness or overall safety of the Valneva vaccine, if indeed that’s the one I was given.
I’m sure the data will be crunched and, when the time is right, sent out to the media in a wordy press release.
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Hide AdBut if previous generations made sacrifices that involved the likes of sprinting towards a heavily-armed enemy over a booby-trapped and mine-sodden No Man’s Land, and if the jab has already passed its phase one and two testing programmes, then I think I can live with the minuscule risk.
I don’t want to brag, but I also drove to the hospital despite the tiny chance of being trapped in a metal tomb by a speeding drink-driver.
I left my Vauxhall in a parking space and shunned the risk of being crushed by a meteor or keeling over dead from a random aneurysm.
After a year of missing out on so much, there’s not much I wouldn’t do to get life back to normal.
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Hide AdBut in the end I just had to show up and let someone put a needle in my arm.
The path to normality is starting to look like the home stretch.
Around 120 people are taking part in the trial at the Vic.
Those 18-30 will get the Valneva jab.
Those 30-plus will get Valneva or AstraZenica.
All are paid £550-600.
To register your interest, email [email protected]
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