Ian Haydon, a communications specialist at the University of Washington, told the MIT Technology Review why he decided to become one of Seattle's 45 volunteers testing an experimental coronavirus vaccine from Moderna Therapeutics, founded by renowned businessman Noubar Afeyan.
On March 4, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first phase of clinical trials of the vaccine mRNA (mRNA-1273) from Moderna Therapeutics in humans without preclinical trials.
The test will last 14 months, and its purpose is to prove the safety of the vaccine. It is not planned to deliberately infect vaccinated volunteers in this study.
Ian Haydon received the first dose of the vaccine on April 8 and will receive the second dose in about a month.All study participants sign a 20-page consent form stating that they understand that there are certain risks and that the vaccine is likely to not help them. Volunteers also agree to take a blood test several times in the coming months, and also not to conceive children during the study.
"I heard about the study from a lab mate who shared on Slack that they were recruiting. I submitted my health information; they wanted to know my health history and age. I didn’t expect to hear back; they had thousands of responses. But I did. I went in for a physical and bloodwork, and they explained the study to me. They asked if I was still interested, and I said yes and signed up," he noted.
Haydon informed his parents of his decision when he was already leaving for a physical examination. He is sure that his parents are proud of him, although his mother is probably a little worried.
According to him, "this is an mRNA vaccine. Part of the genetic code of the virus is in the vaccine, in a lipid nanoparticle, which is essentially a ball of fat. When it’s injected into a patient like me, it’s supposed to produce the protein—in this case the coronavirus spike protein. That is what is supposed to get my immune system to react and produce antibodies. The vaccine delivers the genetic material and not the protein directly."
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