mrken30

I'm sure how common this knowledge is, but if you want to volunteer for Covid-19 testing, the HHS has a website setup. You may even get an early vaccine.

https://www.coronaviruspreventionnetwork.org/

excpomea

I was going to say that my local Peruvian store has them in the frozen section, but I see this is the wrong type of guinea pig.

SpoogleDrummer

Don't they normally have to pay people to be part of trials?

petitefrancaise

very noble if people want to sign up but personally, I would be reluctant to join anything other than stage 3 large scale trials when the dosage/benefits/side effects have been refined.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2022483

Pulaski

I agree. I might have had a different opinon if I was in a high risk job, or otherwise had a high risk of exposure, say if I needed to fly frequently, but as it is, I see little benefit to me volunteering at this stage.

CaliforniaBride

I signed up for this! Feeling a sense of the greater good and all that. The trials have been going well so far. I imagine that if I eventually get called up the biggest risk will be that the vaccine is ineffective. My mom lost her $h!t when I told her. She said I may as well go to a Covid party. Seriously!

scrubbedexpat099

So nothing to do with the other thread about moving Guinea Pigs to the US.

SpoogleDrummer

Well I assume you do have to be exposed to covid at some point otherwise they have no idea if the vaccine works so your mother isn't completely wrong.

Yankashire

If only I hadn't gotten so fat in lockdown, and also still lived in the US...

On second thought...

spouse of scouse

On behalf of the entire world who will benefit from a vaccine, thank you! If it weren't for people like you we'd have no hope at all.

Pulaski

Well no, at least not primarily. The test is whether the vaccine causes the recipient to develop the same immune response (antibodies) as the actual disease. Of course the concern is whether antibodies from having actually had the disease last more than even a few months, and one of the criteria for a "successful" vaccine is how long it provides protection for - which ideally would be "permanent", or for a number of years, but we could end up with a need for an annual vaccine, similar to the annual flu vaccine which varies slightly every year.