Coronavirus vaccine being tested in Missouri shows little side effects

In March we spoke to a doctor in Missouri leading a trial of a new COVID-19 vaccine. That vaccine may take longer than he originally thought to get out into the public.

The FDA has required the testing lab to test more people during phase one than originally expected. 20 of the 40 people who received the vaccine are in Missouri.

The principal investigator leading this trial is certain that they won’t have trouble finding people to give it a try. Dr. John Erving tells KY3 that 90 people signed up before we knew anything about the vaccine.

He says we are seeing the same effects we see with many vaccines, like the flu shot. A little irritation at the injection site, and that achy feeling some people report after they get it.

Dr. Ervin says vaccines are going to be our safest way to combat the coronavirus. “We will eventually have herd immunity and there are two ways to acquire that,” said Ervin. “Everybody comes down with the virus-- and those who survive are immune, or they can get a vaccination. The first signifies significant mortality, it’s much better if we can come up with an effective vaccine and save people from dying.”

As far as the effectiveness of this vaccine, it’s unclear. Dr. Ervin says this is a blind study so he doesn’t know what the results look like and if the vaccine is producing antibodies.

But he is still hopeful that the vaccine will make it through trial before what he says is a possible second wave of the coronavirus.