UNIONTOWN, Ark. — There are currently two vaccines being used in the U.S., Pfizer and Moderna’s but AstraZeneca is among several others on the horizon.
Sherry Marshall from Uniontown is among some Arkansans who have volunteered for the AstraZeneca trial.
Marshall first contacted the Applied Research Center in Little Rock to join the study.
She passed the screening and received her first of the two-dose regimen on January 13th.
“I needed a vaccine for COVID-19 and my age group isn’t going to come up till probably April at the earliest and I heard Dr. Jose Romero encourage people to join the study,” Marshall said.
The vaccine is a double-blind, placebo-controlled study meaning the investigators and participants are blinded to the participant receiving the vaccine or placebo.
“Of course I don’t know for sure if I got the tea vaccine or the placebo but I have a 66% chance of having the real vaccine,” Marshall said.
Although Marshall says if an opportunity became available for her to get an approved vaccine-like Pfizer or Moderna, the study would allow that.
“Yes, they would unblind me and let me know I had received the placebo or the real thing. And also they would unblind the study when the drug gets approved by the FDA and those that received the placebo would then get the real vaccine,” Marshall said.
The study is a two-year-long trial.
Marshall is expected to receive her second shot on February 10th.