A family who are taking part in the UK’s first coronavirus vaccine trial have said it was their duty to take part.
Mother-of-four Katie, 46, took part in the groundbreaking trial with her husband Tony, 53, and daughter Rhiannon Viney, 19.
All three have now received their jabs and have not reported any reactions.
A family from Oxford who are taking part in the first coronavirus vaccine trial have said it was their duty to take part
They are among more than 1,000 participants taking part in the testing after scientists at the University of Oxford packed five years of work into four months to try to beat the pandemic.
Katie told The Express: ‘I don’t think any of us feels like we have done anything remarkable – we just wanted to do something to help, anything. I just thought of all the children at my school who are missing their friends and are desperate to return to some sort of normality.’
She added: ‘We didn’t hesitate to participate. We have done our bit for Britain and we are proud.’
Tony said: ‘When you think that at any one time there are four billion people in lockdown around the world it is trials like this that could help.’
Katie, 46, took part in the first coronavirus vaccine trial with her husband Tony, 53, and daughter Rhiannon
Volunteers were injected with the new vaccine or a placebo which actually protects against meningitis, but won’t know which group they are in.
Tony had his jab on April 29 at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford. The next day Katie had hers at the city’s Warneford Hospital and Rhiannon received hers on May 1 at the Churchill.
They were sent home with a thermometer an hour after the injection having had temperature checks. They were told to record their symptoms.
Nurses take nasal swabs of staff at Churchill Hospital, where the vaccine trials are taking place
None of them know whether they have received the coronavirus vaccine or the placebo meningitis one.
The COVID-19 trials are taking place at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford and started on April 23. A second vaccine from Imperial College London is also hoped to face human trials in June.
Scientists think the vaccine could be ready by September and provide the first resistance to the virus, The Express reported.
Teaching assistant Katie, 46, had seen the plea for healthy volunteers and urged her husband and their 19-year-old daughter to sign up with her.
Speaking at the end of April, the mum-of-four said: ‘I had my screening last Friday and it was very thorough.
‘Blood pressure, they listened to my heart, they did urine checks, they go through what the trial entails, then it gets sent to my doctor who sends over your medical records.
‘If you don’t get through, at least at the end of it you’ve had a full health MOT!
‘By and large it has been a very quick process: by Saturday morning my doctor had sent everything off and I was phoned by the team that afternoon to talk everything through.
‘It is like making history.’
One of Britain’s first participants, Simeon Courtie, told Good Morning Britain on April 23 that volunteers have been warned they could experience mild flu like symptoms, such as a fever, as well as aches and pains.
But Katie said she was not worried about any health risks from taking part in the trial because she believes the team have done everything they could to make it safe.
She added: ‘Lots of people are being very negative about it, but it is going to be safe, they are not going to take the risk with people’s lives.
‘I am keen to do my bit.
‘It is exciting, interesting, fascinating, and we are really hoping that this is the vaccine that works – but I guess you won’t know until we’ve done this.
‘I just want to help so life can return to normal. You have to live in a cave not to know somebody who is affected by this.
‘I want to do something useful to help and I feel like this is a great way.’
Her daughter Rhiannon, who is a university student, had a screening on April 20 and is now waiting, like Mrs Viney, to be given a date to start the process properly.
Her husband Tony, 53, who runs two pubs, was screened the week after.
This is where the scientists check for things like minor infections and illnesses that could skew the trial.
The couple have also decided to help the scientific research as a celebration of their weight loss.
Katie said: ‘We’ve lost a massive amount of weight since last year. They are saying if you’re obese and you get coronavirus your chance of survival is less.
‘To me, because we’ve lost the weight, it’s even more important that we can take part: last year we wouldn’t have been able to do this, we would have been way too obese.
‘I really do hope this is the cure.’
The university revealed some information about how the trial process was likely to work.
It said that on the first day only two participants would be given the trial vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and one person with the controlled vaccine.
The trial vaccine is made up of genetically modified, weakened version of the common cold virus – which is similar to the COVID-19 coronavirus – with added proteins.
These three people were watched for 48 hours.
Another six people were then vaccinated – and this time half of the volunteers received the trial vaccine.
On the fifth day of the trial a larger group of volunteers were called up to the post with people like the Viney family being given a date to start the trial.
Each volunteer was given an e-diary (an online system to fill out) to record any symptoms they had for the first seven days after they are injected – they can also flat whether they feel unwell for three weeks.
An early version of part of the vaccine was already given to 320 people, who only reported minor side effects like a temperature, headache or a sore arm.
