Coronavirus: It is great to think I could have already had the COVID-19 vaccine
Dr Ellie Cannon self-tests for coronavirus every Friday as part of the Oxford聽Vaccine Trial.
Monday 13 July 2020 05:49, UK
Human trials are under way of a potential vaccine for COVID-19 being developed by scientists at the University of Oxford.
If it proves effective it could be the silver bullet that brings the pandemic to an end.
Dr Ellie Cannon is a family GP and well-known broadcaster and columnist. Here, she tells Sky News about the next stage of her volunteering as part of the Oxford Vaccine Trial.
It is a month since I was vaccinated and time to go back to the hospital for a check-up.
The trial is known as a blind trial. As a volunteer you do not know whether you are given the trial vaccine against the virus - known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccination, or a control vaccination.
I would like to say I can tell which one I was given four weeks ago, but I really cannot. After my vaccination, I felt exactly the same as before with no side effects.
I was warned I may feel achy or have flu like symptoms the first weekend, but I did not and I have felt normal ever since.
Every week I have to take a swab at home to test if I have COVID-19. This is probably the worst part of the trial for me and not something I look forward to each week. The swab kits are the same as the NHS self-test kits you can order if you have symptoms.
Each Friday morning, I take the swab - which looks like an elongated cotton bud - and test my throat and nose. This involves rubbing the swab repeatedly over my tonsils, which is pretty nasty, before pushing it up my nose as far as it will go before pain.
I am keen to make sure I do these as best as I can, but it is certainly not nice, and it makes me wonder when people order a self-test, how many actually do them properly, as the experience is horrible. I suspect there are lots of inaccurate results as people find it so unpleasant.
Each week, 24 hours after I post my swab kit in the local priority post box, I get a text with my results, which have all been clear.
I have not been in contact with any patients or friends with COVID-19, and I am an avid mask-wearer, so this is not surprising.
The weekly swab test is certainly one of the advantages of joining the trial. The reassurance is very welcome as far as I am concerned.
Returning to the hospital after a month, I was reassessed to see how I had fared after the vaccination and how I have been generally.
I have had repeat blood tests today for antibody testing - but I will not get to find out the results. Knowing the results would clearly reveal which vaccination I have had, and the researchers do not want this to influence the behaviour or risks of the volunteers, as it could skew the results.
It is a bit strange to think I could have antibodies to COVID-19 right now, but I will not know that for at least a year. I had a thorough health check with a research nurse, and she was keen to know any symptoms I may have had since the vaccination.
She wanted to see the injection site in my arm, but there is nothing to see, which is good news. The nurse also talked me through the protocol again, and I had to consent to make sure I still agree to continue.
From today, I have to carry on my weekly swabs for at least another two months, with a bit of juggling if I do decide to go on holiday, as I cannot post them from abroad. I am in a routine now, and as unpleasant as it is, I like the reassurance of my Saturday text messages telling me I do not have COVID.
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As the cases drop in the UK and we ease lockdown tentatively, experts still believe a vaccination will be a vital part of reclaiming our normal lives.
Since I joined the Oxford trial, the Imperial vaccine trial has also started with volunteers signing up and being vaccinated.
The vaccination solution to the virus could very well come from the UK, and it is great to think I could have already had it.