David Rach became the first person to be injected with a COVID-19 vaccine back in May at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and he recently revealed his experience so far.
Last week, the vaccine maker Pfizer and BioNTech released a data from the first phase of the trail, saying the early results show the vaccine works (so far). The vaccine appears to be building antibodies at the same rate — or at a higher rate — then those who had COVID-19.
“That the vaccine in humans created the very robust immune responses in all individuals that received the vaccine,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said, “And those responses were also able to kill the virus. What we learned is that this vaccine can neutralize the virus.”
Rach said he found out the results when Pfizer released the report.
”There is a component of relief seeing that it’s actually producing results, that the vaccine is producing antibodies,” Rach told WJLA.
Of course, Rach said he’s not sure he even received the actual vaccine or a saline vaccine since it’s a “double-blind trial,” according to WJLA.
But, he said, he had a slight reaction to the second dose so he believes he’s been vaccinated.
“I joke with my friends I’m not going around licking doorknobs just to prove it does work or doesn’t work,” he said. “So my behavior if you see me around Baltimore I’m still wearing my same mask. I’m still giving extra space. I have a little bit extra back of the mind security that maybe I am protected even if somebody walking by does have COVID but at the same time I’m still playing my part at flattening the curve.”
In March, the Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute in Seattle began a first-stage study for the COVID-19 vaccine, too, according to The Associated Press.
The first participant was an operations manager at a tech company named Jennifer Haller, 43, of Seattle. She received an injection in an exam room at the time, according to The Associated Press.
”We all feel so helpless,” she said. “This is an amazing opportunity for me to do something.”