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I’m in the Pfizer Trial. Should I Get Vaccinated Early?
One participant’s ethical quandaries
Nothing about volunteering in a Covid-19 vaccine trial felt like a sacrifice. When I eked out a spot at one of the NYC trial sites for the Pfizer vaccine in late summer, friends and family thanked me for putting myself on the line. Some questioned my decision because of how little was known about the maybe-vaccine and possible side effects. But all I felt was very, very lucky. Although I had a 50–50 chance of getting the placebo, which was an injection of saltwater, I also had coin-flip odds of getting a vaccine that looked safe and efficacious in earlier trials months before everyone else.
The gamble only seemed luckier a couple months later when Pfizer announced there was enough data to determine their vaccine candidate was a whopping 95% effective at preventing Covid-19 disease. I shared in the collective relief on Friday, December 11, the day the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted its first emergency use authorization (EUA) for a Covid-19 vaccine to Pfizer. (A week later, Moderna’s vaccine, which is very similar to Pfizer’s in design and performance, also got EUA.)
