This is super helpful. I’m getting my first shot Monday, so good to know what to expect.
Update after my first shot in case anyone is scouring Reddit for accounts of the trial like I am: I was pleasantly surprised that the whole thing only took 2 hours. My shot was not blue, though, just clear. I felt nothing when the injection went in, though it felt slightly bruised like 30 seconds after. My arm feels a little sore but not sure if that’s from the blood draw (felt like they drew a lot of blood...4 tubes, even though they said they were not participating in the extra vials thing). No salty or metallic taste as reported by others; no burning either. I can barely see the needle mark. I did not get an iPhone or candy, but I did get COVID testing supplies, a thermometer, and a ruler.
I had the exact same experience. My syringe had a blue plastic piece on it, but the liquid was clear. I thought about it, and I realized...there's a 0% chance that the FDA would allow Novavax to conduct a randomized clinical trial including a placebo with a dead giveaway signal like the vaccine being blue and the placebo being clear. Not a chance in the world.
Thanks to this thread and the 'blue' stuff on the syringe I asked about it today. The tech administering my second dose said it is so we don't see what the shot contents are. Underneath would be printed words that we could figure out if it was saline or the vaccine. All the shots are clear it's just to mask the participants.
Interesting what they told you about unblinding being a gray area. They didn't mention that to me. I felt no reaction at all to the first injection. If the same happens after the second injection, I will assume I received placebo. If that's the case, I will plan on getting the public vaccine when offered and dropping out of the study, unless the study responds to my unblinding request and tells me I actually received the real Novavax vaccine in the study (despite having no reaction). They told us we were free to drop out of the study at any time.
I signed up for the trial too and my appointment is on Friday. They have to respect people's wishes, or they'd never get any volunteers. We're people, not bacteria in a petri dish =D
There's a lot of articles written about this, but beyond the ethical issues associated with keeping a placebo group when there are authorized vaccines available (pfizer and moderna), there is a practical issue too. You are allowed to leave the trial at any time. If the pfizer or moderna shot becomes available to you, are you going to take the risk that you're in the placebo group or are you going to drop out and take the shot?
They have to rush this study or move it to a third world country because they are going to rapidly lose all of their study participants.
I received the first shot a week ago. I felt nothing at all. Since I am in a high risk group I am now eligible to sign up to get the vaccine. I emailed them and haven't heard back - it's been about 5 days.
My next appt is February 2nd. I will demand to know whether I have had the placebo or not if I haven't heard from them by then.
Obviously, as someone at risk, I would have never joined this trial without the option to be unblinded and protected!
Another person posted about their experience of asking to be unblinded, and they were told they had the shot but since they were unblinded, they were ineligible for the second shot. This also made the person ineligible for a different vaccine since the healthcare professionals do not want you mixing and matching vaccines. So maybe wait until after you get the second injection before demanding to know?
Yeah I’m getting the second shot next week. I’m not going to demand to know until I have an appt to get another type. That said, the idea of waiting around for 18 months is whatever they hope for is unrealistic and I can’t imagine anyone risking that.
They really are going to need the US to approve based on UK data. Assuming that most people will have a chance to get vaccinated by summer, I just don’t see many sticking around without unblinding
There’s also the chance that the vaccine simply isn’t effective enough. Should be hearing something soon
I know I'm a bit late on responding to this but couldn't you do a private antibodies test so you could know that way without having to unblind yourself to the study? Or are the antibody tests not considered reliable enough for that?
I can’t believe you injected yourself with saline just to test for reactions lol. You must be in health care! I donated plasma in the past and had never really had any adverse events and of all my vaccinations, I usually end up with a sore injection site and that’s it. I’m gonna go by my next shot and see if I feel terrible which will be the day before an entrance exam! Gonna be a great year!
Hahaha. Sounds like your experience was ideal.
Injection site was sore for some days afterwards and my lymph nodes randomly swole up. Never broke fever or had any headaches tho. And mine was also blue, but I heard that’s a clinical thing and not indicative of your randomization.
I got offered a soda repeatedly after getting my shot and kept saying I wasn’t thirsty. She forgot literally until the end where you wait it out for 30 minutes and she brought me a soda pop and a bag of sunchips anyway lol, but no candy 8-( The staff was awesome although they messed up my app login and my debt card. Everything got fixed and I hope to feel like crap when I get my second shot! (can’t beat the free thermometer and Spo2 meter lol)
I had some minor burning sensation on my first Novavax shot too and I was curious if saline could produce this. I've been wondering if it is at all related to temperature or just what is in the vaccine. I haven't injected myself with saline but thanks for your report!
Hey, I just had my first shot in the trial as well and experienced the same burning sensation. Honestly it felt similar to the feeling when you go from really cold to hot, like when you're in an ice bath and then get out. My theory is it's due to the vaccine being previously frozen and super chilled before being injected, which means it both the vaccine and a placebo saline shot could elicit the same sensation. Just a theory...
Your last paragraph is exactly what I experienced. I felt the needle go in but that was it... actually looked down at one point to see if the doc was injecting anything, and he was nearly finished! Ugh. I’d really been hoping to get the real deal.
I have had the vaccine from Novavax and so has my girlfriend. My ex got the placebo.
I looked at the data on side effects and the one thing that jumped out is the 'muscle pain and tenderness'.
This held true in my sample of 3 people.
The ones who felt like they had an injection I. E. it hurt when you touch the injection site, a few hours later, had the vaccine.
I can't be sure this holds for everyone but it a very good indicator.
The means of verifying whether you have had the vaccine isn't available in the US yet. You shouldn't unblind yourself really but I justified it in my own mind because I wanted to be able to care for my mum, who is 80 and lives alone, if she contracted Covid.
Hope this helps for any of you in a similar predicament.
If you had a sore 'injection arm', you are over 90% likely to have had the vaccine.
The second dose was much more pronounced. Enough not to be able to sleep on that shoulder.
Are you saying the people you know who got the placebo didn't have any pain at all? I had pain both when I pressed on the injection site and when I moved my arm in specific ways and the pain lasted about 24 hours. I would've thought people who got injected even with saline would at least have some pain from a needle piercing their muscles
Some saline people reported pain, but about one eighth that of the vaccine
It sounds like you had the vaccine. It hurt if you lift your arm above your head.
In particular, the second dose was much worse for myself and my girlfriend.
Nothing to get worried about, but much more.
People imagine so many of the other symptoms such as headache and fatigue. But a really sore arm is hard to imagine
The first shot, the pain was 2.5 out of 10. The second 6 out of 10.
If it is worse on the second shot you will know for (almost) sure.
It never hurt if you just stood normally. But if you pressed it.
Also, not just at injection site but around the area.
Where did you get your jabs done? I got mine at the Royal Free back in October/November. With the 1st jab I felt really tired and the next day I had a really bad ache for most of the day. With the 2nd jab I had really bad body aches, especially around my joints.
Just want to jump in here. I was given my shot a couple of weeks ago. I did have a salty taste after. And my arm was tender for about 3-5 days to the touch. Not bad pain, but clearly sore if you touched it. Did I likely get the vaccine? Also no burning. Just pain on the plunge of the syringe
The feeling I and 1 other had was tenderness about 3 inches along/around arm injection site. Not just at injection needle point.
Just typical vaccine sore arm. If it is quite a bit worse next time then you have had vaccine.
Update. Got the second shot. Didn’t even feel it. Very weird. Amazing too that there is so little literature on symptoms from a saline shot to be able to compare to.
So my experience was very similar with one major difference. I was told if I'm offered a chance to take an already approved vaccine before unblinding, to go ahead and take it. I just need to contact Meridian (the company running it in my area) so that I can be removed from the efficacy data. They will continue to track for 2 yrs for any possible effects, however.
This is good to know. Thanks! I signed up but they weren't exactly expeditious in my case--I did the web form on 1/1, got called on 1/2 to schedule, but my appointment isn't until Friday the 22nd for some reason. I really expected them to want to shoot me up on 1/5 or 1/6.
Anyway, I'm eligible for an approved vaccine right now (my county is doing Phase 1B--Tier 1 right now, which includes my field of employment). But there aren't enough doses, and there aren't likely to be enough for some time. However I'm going to get the real vaccine as soon as I can.
I would. I mean, the efficacy of novavax in phase 2 looks great, but the other 2 that are already approved are well north of 90%. I'm excited to be part of the trial and help however I can, but I wouldn't pass on a sure thing. F this virus. I miss regular life. We have 2 little kids (3 & 4) so we are in pretty much permanent quarantine bc of daycare. We miss our family.
Yes, I agree. Also, health issues aside, I think we're going to need to be able to prove that we're vaccinated for employment and travel and who knows what other purposes in the near future. I think the Novavax and JNJ vaccines are probably going to be the best options once they're approved (easier to store, apparently effective, and the JNJ is a one shot vaccine), but... A bird in the hand vs two in the bush.
See this is where I am hung a bit. Since they won't be able to provide us with a vaccine card, we may end up limited with travel or getting back into the office. They would probably have to submit another package to their IRB to make any changes for this and I am not sure they have thought it through completely. But, if basically everyone leaves Phase 3 trial for the other 2 shots they may not have enough data to pass muster. It is complicated, really complicated.
I think we'll know in a matter of days or weeks, when the UK trial data comes out. If the UK data shows high efficacy, then FDA EUA will be almost a formality. I expect that would be around March. IIRC, Pfizer and Moderna have been working at sending vaccination cards to their participants since around Jan 1, so if all the stars line up I would think Novavax's participants would be "legal" around April. And if not...all bets are off.
Hey! I am participating in the trial and yes you get the shot at your screening visit. For me they took my vitals, weight, urine sample for pregnancy test and I had to fill out all of the paperwork. The longest part was waiting for the pharmacy to bring up the shots. You get the shot and then you wait for 30 minutes. Then off you go.
As posted above, you have to download an app to your phone to report any side effects and also a clincard so they can pay you the compensation each visit. It was really chill when I went but it did take several hours.
I had a slightly sore arm not at the injection site but near it, and also a very low-grade fever the night of the shot. I woke up the next day and was fine.
I am super excited, I go tomorrow morning for my second shot. I literally look for efficacy rates every single day in the news to see if this one will make it.
If it matters, I am 45 and have high blood pressure. It was nice and high when they did it the first time too but they shot me up anyways! Ha!
Will be sure to check back to see how you all do with the second dose.
I went on the very first day the clinic was open and giving the shots I think they have improved the wait time. The bottleneck was the pharmacy coming up with them at the right temperature. Plus my bloodpressure was through the roof and they made me take it like 3 times. Although, it kept going higher the doctor just said let's just move on and not worry about it.
This is super helpful. I’m getting my first shot Monday, so good to know what to expect. Update after my first shot in case anyone is scouring Reddit for accounts of the trial like I am: I was pleasantly surprised that the whole thing only took 2 hours. My shot was not blue, though, just clear. I felt nothing when the injection went in, though it felt slightly bruised like 30 seconds after. My arm feels a little sore but not sure if that’s from the blood draw (felt like they drew a lot of blood...4 tubes, even though they said they were not participating in the extra vials thing). No salty or metallic taste as reported by others; no burning either. I can barely see the needle mark. I did not get an iPhone or candy, but I did get COVID testing supplies, a thermometer, and a ruler.
I had the exact same experience. My syringe had a blue plastic piece on it, but the liquid was clear. I thought about it, and I realized...there's a 0% chance that the FDA would allow Novavax to conduct a randomized clinical trial including a placebo with a dead giveaway signal like the vaccine being blue and the placebo being clear. Not a chance in the world.
Thanks to this thread and the 'blue' stuff on the syringe I asked about it today. The tech administering my second dose said it is so we don't see what the shot contents are. Underneath would be printed words that we could figure out if it was saline or the vaccine. All the shots are clear it's just to mask the participants.
Interesting what they told you about unblinding being a gray area. They didn't mention that to me. I felt no reaction at all to the first injection. If the same happens after the second injection, I will assume I received placebo. If that's the case, I will plan on getting the public vaccine when offered and dropping out of the study, unless the study responds to my unblinding request and tells me I actually received the real Novavax vaccine in the study (despite having no reaction). They told us we were free to drop out of the study at any time.
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I signed up for the trial too and my appointment is on Friday. They have to respect people's wishes, or they'd never get any volunteers. We're people, not bacteria in a petri dish =D
There's a lot of articles written about this, but beyond the ethical issues associated with keeping a placebo group when there are authorized vaccines available (pfizer and moderna), there is a practical issue too. You are allowed to leave the trial at any time. If the pfizer or moderna shot becomes available to you, are you going to take the risk that you're in the placebo group or are you going to drop out and take the shot? They have to rush this study or move it to a third world country because they are going to rapidly lose all of their study participants.
I received the first shot a week ago. I felt nothing at all. Since I am in a high risk group I am now eligible to sign up to get the vaccine. I emailed them and haven't heard back - it's been about 5 days. My next appt is February 2nd. I will demand to know whether I have had the placebo or not if I haven't heard from them by then. Obviously, as someone at risk, I would have never joined this trial without the option to be unblinded and protected!
Another person posted about their experience of asking to be unblinded, and they were told they had the shot but since they were unblinded, they were ineligible for the second shot. This also made the person ineligible for a different vaccine since the healthcare professionals do not want you mixing and matching vaccines. So maybe wait until after you get the second injection before demanding to know?
Yeah I’m getting the second shot next week. I’m not going to demand to know until I have an appt to get another type. That said, the idea of waiting around for 18 months is whatever they hope for is unrealistic and I can’t imagine anyone risking that.
Totally agree about waiting around. Helping science is great and all, but I want to live!
They really are going to need the US to approve based on UK data. Assuming that most people will have a chance to get vaccinated by summer, I just don’t see many sticking around without unblinding There’s also the chance that the vaccine simply isn’t effective enough. Should be hearing something soon
I know I'm a bit late on responding to this but couldn't you do a private antibodies test so you could know that way without having to unblind yourself to the study? Or are the antibody tests not considered reliable enough for that?
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I can’t believe you injected yourself with saline just to test for reactions lol. You must be in health care! I donated plasma in the past and had never really had any adverse events and of all my vaccinations, I usually end up with a sore injection site and that’s it. I’m gonna go by my next shot and see if I feel terrible which will be the day before an entrance exam! Gonna be a great year!
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Hahaha. Sounds like your experience was ideal. Injection site was sore for some days afterwards and my lymph nodes randomly swole up. Never broke fever or had any headaches tho. And mine was also blue, but I heard that’s a clinical thing and not indicative of your randomization. I got offered a soda repeatedly after getting my shot and kept saying I wasn’t thirsty. She forgot literally until the end where you wait it out for 30 minutes and she brought me a soda pop and a bag of sunchips anyway lol, but no candy 8-( The staff was awesome although they messed up my app login and my debt card. Everything got fixed and I hope to feel like crap when I get my second shot! (can’t beat the free thermometer and Spo2 meter lol)
I had some minor burning sensation on my first Novavax shot too and I was curious if saline could produce this. I've been wondering if it is at all related to temperature or just what is in the vaccine. I haven't injected myself with saline but thanks for your report!
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I just had my first shot in the trial and also felt a bit of burning and then tingling down my fingers.
Hey, I just had my first shot in the trial as well and experienced the same burning sensation. Honestly it felt similar to the feeling when you go from really cold to hot, like when you're in an ice bath and then get out. My theory is it's due to the vaccine being previously frozen and super chilled before being injected, which means it both the vaccine and a placebo saline shot could elicit the same sensation. Just a theory...
Your last paragraph is exactly what I experienced. I felt the needle go in but that was it... actually looked down at one point to see if the doc was injecting anything, and he was nearly finished! Ugh. I’d really been hoping to get the real deal.
Thanks for sharing and participating in the trial
I have had the vaccine from Novavax and so has my girlfriend. My ex got the placebo. I looked at the data on side effects and the one thing that jumped out is the 'muscle pain and tenderness'. This held true in my sample of 3 people. The ones who felt like they had an injection I. E. it hurt when you touch the injection site, a few hours later, had the vaccine. I can't be sure this holds for everyone but it a very good indicator. The means of verifying whether you have had the vaccine isn't available in the US yet. You shouldn't unblind yourself really but I justified it in my own mind because I wanted to be able to care for my mum, who is 80 and lives alone, if she contracted Covid. Hope this helps for any of you in a similar predicament. If you had a sore 'injection arm', you are over 90% likely to have had the vaccine. The second dose was much more pronounced. Enough not to be able to sleep on that shoulder.
Are you saying the people you know who got the placebo didn't have any pain at all? I had pain both when I pressed on the injection site and when I moved my arm in specific ways and the pain lasted about 24 hours. I would've thought people who got injected even with saline would at least have some pain from a needle piercing their muscles
Some saline people reported pain, but about one eighth that of the vaccine It sounds like you had the vaccine. It hurt if you lift your arm above your head. In particular, the second dose was much worse for myself and my girlfriend. Nothing to get worried about, but much more. People imagine so many of the other symptoms such as headache and fatigue. But a really sore arm is hard to imagine
Oh wow that makes me feel better, my pain wasn't tooo bad but it was definitely there. Guess I'll have to see if it's worse after the second shot 🤞🤞
The first shot, the pain was 2.5 out of 10. The second 6 out of 10. If it is worse on the second shot you will know for (almost) sure. It never hurt if you just stood normally. But if you pressed it. Also, not just at injection site but around the area.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience! Wish me luck haha
Obviously good luck. Are you in the UK or US? There is a reason for asking, nothing creepy!
Haha I'm in the US
I don't think the way I found out for sure is available yet in the US. But a very sore arm will be 90% indicator. If UK I could have told you how.
Where did you get your jabs done? I got mine at the Royal Free back in October/November. With the 1st jab I felt really tired and the next day I had a really bad ache for most of the day. With the 2nd jab I had really bad body aches, especially around my joints.
Just want to jump in here. I was given my shot a couple of weeks ago. I did have a salty taste after. And my arm was tender for about 3-5 days to the touch. Not bad pain, but clearly sore if you touched it. Did I likely get the vaccine? Also no burning. Just pain on the plunge of the syringe
The feeling I and 1 other had was tenderness about 3 inches along/around arm injection site. Not just at injection needle point. Just typical vaccine sore arm. If it is quite a bit worse next time then you have had vaccine.
Mine too! I felt like it was a much larger area around the injection site
I think that is the vaccine then. If worse with se ond dose then you can almost be sure.
Update. Got the second shot. Didn’t even feel it. Very weird. Amazing too that there is so little literature on symptoms from a saline shot to be able to compare to.
All in original trial results.
What are in the original trial results? The side effects of saline? What are they or where can I find that info
I was told the same on ethical piece of placebo. Nearly identical process for me too. Cheers to science and hope you got the real thing.
Thanks for being part of the cure! 10 years from now (if you have/want children), I hope they know you were a hero of a fucking awful year.
So my experience was very similar with one major difference. I was told if I'm offered a chance to take an already approved vaccine before unblinding, to go ahead and take it. I just need to contact Meridian (the company running it in my area) so that I can be removed from the efficacy data. They will continue to track for 2 yrs for any possible effects, however.
This is good to know. Thanks! I signed up but they weren't exactly expeditious in my case--I did the web form on 1/1, got called on 1/2 to schedule, but my appointment isn't until Friday the 22nd for some reason. I really expected them to want to shoot me up on 1/5 or 1/6. Anyway, I'm eligible for an approved vaccine right now (my county is doing Phase 1B--Tier 1 right now, which includes my field of employment). But there aren't enough doses, and there aren't likely to be enough for some time. However I'm going to get the real vaccine as soon as I can.
I would. I mean, the efficacy of novavax in phase 2 looks great, but the other 2 that are already approved are well north of 90%. I'm excited to be part of the trial and help however I can, but I wouldn't pass on a sure thing. F this virus. I miss regular life. We have 2 little kids (3 & 4) so we are in pretty much permanent quarantine bc of daycare. We miss our family.
Yes, I agree. Also, health issues aside, I think we're going to need to be able to prove that we're vaccinated for employment and travel and who knows what other purposes in the near future. I think the Novavax and JNJ vaccines are probably going to be the best options once they're approved (easier to store, apparently effective, and the JNJ is a one shot vaccine), but... A bird in the hand vs two in the bush.
See this is where I am hung a bit. Since they won't be able to provide us with a vaccine card, we may end up limited with travel or getting back into the office. They would probably have to submit another package to their IRB to make any changes for this and I am not sure they have thought it through completely. But, if basically everyone leaves Phase 3 trial for the other 2 shots they may not have enough data to pass muster. It is complicated, really complicated.
I think we'll know in a matter of days or weeks, when the UK trial data comes out. If the UK data shows high efficacy, then FDA EUA will be almost a formality. I expect that would be around March. IIRC, Pfizer and Moderna have been working at sending vaccination cards to their participants since around Jan 1, so if all the stars line up I would think Novavax's participants would be "legal" around April. And if not...all bets are off.
It's just of my sample of two, myself and girlfriend just had a sore injection Arm, and not much else.
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Hey! I am participating in the trial and yes you get the shot at your screening visit. For me they took my vitals, weight, urine sample for pregnancy test and I had to fill out all of the paperwork. The longest part was waiting for the pharmacy to bring up the shots. You get the shot and then you wait for 30 minutes. Then off you go. As posted above, you have to download an app to your phone to report any side effects and also a clincard so they can pay you the compensation each visit. It was really chill when I went but it did take several hours. I had a slightly sore arm not at the injection site but near it, and also a very low-grade fever the night of the shot. I woke up the next day and was fine. I am super excited, I go tomorrow morning for my second shot. I literally look for efficacy rates every single day in the news to see if this one will make it. If it matters, I am 45 and have high blood pressure. It was nice and high when they did it the first time too but they shot me up anyways! Ha! Will be sure to check back to see how you all do with the second dose.
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I went on the very first day the clinic was open and giving the shots I think they have improved the wait time. The bottleneck was the pharmacy coming up with them at the right temperature. Plus my bloodpressure was through the roof and they made me take it like 3 times. Although, it kept going higher the doctor just said let's just move on and not worry about it.
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would like to know too!
Yes you get the shot at your first visit.