COVID-19 Diary – Day 203

FDA Widens Investigation into AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca is in the news once again, over their COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The US FDA has now expanded their investigation into the unexpected development of transverse myelitis in at least one of the participants of an ongoing study, which will now include research into previous vaccines developed by the same scientists. This does not directly imply anything about the vaccine candidate at this time, but will almost certainly mean additional delays before trials may continue in the US. US trials of the vaccine candidate have been on hold for nearly a month now.

Vaccine Candidates Seeing Strong Symptoms

(Please note: The following should not be taken as commentary on vaccines in general, and applies only to the two mentioned vaccine candidates, as reported by a small handful of interviewed study participants.)

COVID-19 vaccine trial participants from studies of both the Moderna and Pfizer candidates have been reporting strong and potentially serious symptoms for short periods (1 day or less) after receiving the second inoculation. A woman in her 50’s who is taking part in the Moderna vaccine candidate trials remarked:

“If this proves to work, people are going to have to toughen up. The first dose is no big deal. And then the second dose will definitely put you down for the day for sure. … You will need to take a day off after the second dose.”

Both Moderna and Pfizer have acknowledged that their vaccines could induce side effects that are similar to symptoms associated with mild COVID-19, such as muscle pain, chills and headache. One reporting participant reported their symptoms after the second shot as:

“Bed bound with a fever of over 101, shakes, chills, a pounding headache and shortness of breath.” He further went on to say that the pain in his arm, where he received the shot, felt like a “goose egg on my shoulder.” His temperature remained above 100 degrees for five hours. 

Another participant struggled with uncontrollable chills to the point where he cracked one of his teeth because of how badly they were chattering. Many participants reporting only did so under the promise of anonymity, out of fear of backlash from Moderna or Pfizer. And while all the participants that were interviewed stated that they felt the symptoms were much worse than they expected, they all also agreed that they felt it was worth it.

The series interview details can be found here.

President Trump and First Lady Test Positive

While this news has nothing directly to do with British Columbia, it is arguably large enough news to warrant a mention.

Grand Opening Raffle – 4 days left

To celebrate our grand opening, we are giving away one of the special limited edition Dr. Bonnie Henry themed Compass Cards. To enter the raffle just leave a comment on any of the weekly posts starting today until October 4th. Maximum of one entry per day, and no more than 5 entries per person. The winner will be randomly drawn and announced on Monday, October 5th’s daily post.

That’s all for now, stay safe everyone!