NY man gives a peek into Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine trial

Phase three of Pfizer's trials was done with 44,000 people, but this last stretch of the trial is the largest and most diverse pool the company has used. It included different ethnicities, teens as young as 16 and people with compromised immune systems.

News 12 Staff

Nov 10, 2020, 3:13 AM

Updated 1,485 days ago

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What is it like being part of a clinical trial for the COVID-19 vaccine? One New York man gave News 12 some insight on his experience.
Phase three of Pfizer's trials was done with 44,000 people, but this last stretch of the trial is the largest and most diverse pool the company has used. It included different ethnicities, teens as young as 16 and people with compromised immune systems.
Even back in August, Pfizer described the vaccine as "well tolerated" because fewer than 20% of participants had mild to moderate symptoms.
News 12 spoke to a White Plains man who is a phase three participant. Because it's a double-blind study, we don't know if he received the vaccine, but he said he had no symptoms or issues from the trial.
"You know, I'm not a health care worker. So I can't contribute in that way. I'm not an essential worker, so I can't help in that way, either. So there's different things than everyone can do," says Barry Corvin.
The retiree says he got his first shot back in July. He says he wasn't too worried, and his wife was supportive.
"The risks certainly were worth the reward of either finding out if this works. Or, if it doesn't work, that's just ... you're figuring out something that doesn't work, right?" says Colvin.
A study in the medical journal Pediatrics says 1 in 5 parents are vaccine hesitant. Colvin says to those who are worried -- to each their own -- but he hopes those people will utilize precautions such as wearing masks.
Pfizer is hoping to submit the vaccine for regulatory approval next week with a goal to start distribution by the end of the year.