U-M Health: COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Volunteers Explain Why They Signed Up

Vaccines are one of the most important tools in modern medicine and have saved countless lives. None of the vaccines we now take for granted would be possible without the bravery of thousands of clinical trial volunteers. And experts agree that an effective vaccine is essential for ending the COVID-19 pandemic.

Currently, Michigan Medicine is host to two phase III clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine—the final phase before a vaccine is approved and made available to the world. Vaccine trials are unique in the degree of altruism among their participants. In double-blind trials, such as the ones for the AstraZeneca and Janssen investigational vaccines, neither the study coordinators nor the patients themselves know whether they are receiving a placebo or the real vaccine under study.

Here, five participants share their personal stories about why they signed up to be a part of history. Their interviews were edited for clarity and length:

Neendoniss Woodward

My grandmother went to the University of Michigan School of Nursing in the early 1940s when Jonas Salk was here as a research fellow working on a flu vaccine and she had lunch with him. So I kind of feel like I have a connection to medical research. I figured if I’m healthy enough to go through the trial, I probably should.

I’m a citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, the largest tribe east of the Mississippi. [This pandemic] is yet another strike from the outside on Native communities; it’s not the first time an epidemic has effected Native communities and it won’t be the last. I’ve never lived on a reservation. I grew up going to schools with mostly white kids and white neighbors, so I sometimes think I’m not your “typical” Native.

It’s hard to say how the pandemic has affected my family as far as being typical of how it has affected Native Americans because we’re all kind of spread out. The Native communities where it really hit hard are the kind that have a lot of extended family involved in each other’s daily lives. And where there’s a lot of mixing of households, on top of that, there are a lot of problems with things like inadequate housing and inadequate clean water. It’s not just being Native that causes the spread, it’s all the circumstances surrounding Native communities.

Matthew Wixson, M.D.

Participating in the trial is a welcome responsibility. As an African American man and a physician, I wanted to make myself available to help fight this pandemic. I’ve been fighting it on the frontlines as an anesthesiologist, but I also know that a huge part will be vaccination and therapeutics.

SEE ALSO: Keeping Our Patients Safe During COVID-19

Given the history of medicine in this country—with Tuskegee, Henrietta Lacks—minority communities don’t feel as comfortable participating, yet we need representation in these trials. We need data and to know about efficacy. I just felt that I’m in a position where I’m young and healthy and at high risk of exposure and I could really help to turn the corner.

Taking care of patients with COVID-19 is emotionally, physically and spiritually exhausting. It’s especially hard right now knowing what is coming. We got through the first wave; I’m so proud of our department and everyone I worked with and everyone in the hospital. This disease is still so misunderstood and it’s hard to predict who is going to do really poorly and who is going to go without symptoms.

Taking care of patients when they are that sick is tough and sad. My primary role in the first wave was intubating patients and putting them on the ventilator knowing I could be the last person that they communicate with. It was both devastating and a weighty responsibility. Trying to provide care, comfort and connection to them, in that moment of extremus, was really important and will continue to be as we enter the second wave.

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I volunteered to say that I’m doing this and I hope that other people who look like me feel safe to do it, too. And not even just in the trial, but when the vaccine comes out, I hope that they’ll say, “Yes, I feel comfortable and I feel safe because the study protocol included minority populations. So, I feel comfortable coming in to get the vaccine.” Because that’s going to be key in getting back to our new normal.

Margaret Higgins

When I think about my baby brother who had polio and was in the hospital, I also think about my parents. He was in the hospital for six or seven months. They didn’t want them to bring the virus home to us. It was very sad.

Peter Higgins, M.D., and his mother, Margaret Higgins.

The trial for the polio vaccine started in April of 1954. First, second and third graders were getting the vaccine or placebos and somehow my parents slid me in to the trial. I received a placebo, as did my younger brother who was in first grade.

There was no hesitancy at all to get the vaccine once it was available. People were clamoring. At that point it was so very frightening.