First coronavirus trial patient says she’s ‘proud to help’

‘Whenever we get to the vaccine, whatever it ends up being, I will be proud to have been part of the process.’

The first person in the world to trial a possible vaccine for Covid-19 has said ‘it was as easy as a regular flu shot’.

Jennifer Haller, 44, heard about the experiment through a Facebook post and thought to herself ‘maybe there is something I could do to contribute’ to the global fight against the pandemic which has infected 1.5 million people and killed more than 80,000.

The mother-of-two told The Telegraph she agreed to undergo two doses of a test vaccine, given 28 days apart, followed by a year’s monitoring.

She added: ‘We’re all so out of control and helpless. This just gave me something that I could hold on to that could be helpful.’

Named Mrna-1273, the vaccine results appeared promising during the animal testing phase, but this is the first time it has been administered to a human.

The trial, run by Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle, does not involve being inoculated with any strain of the virus itself – much to the relief of Ms Haller’s family.

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But she said there were ‘a tonne of risks’ set out in the 45 pages of disclaimers she and the other 44 adult participants had to sign beforehand.

Among them was a chance she may be more vulnerable to contracting the respiratory disease afterwards.

Despite no working vaccine seemingly on the horizon for anywhere between a year and 18 months, she is confident a successful one will eventually emerge from either hers or one of the similar trials taking place around the world.

Ms Haller said: ‘Whenever we get to the vaccine, whatever it ends up being, I will be proud to have been part of the process.’

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