Dr. Atul Gawande, coronavirus adviser to President-elect Joe Biden, told CNBC on Wednesday that he was involved in the trial of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine.
“My mother, at 84, said, ‘I want to go back,’ so she signed up for the trial. I said that if my mother can do it, then I’ll sign up for a vaccine trial,” he said. dir Gawande “Squawk Box”.
Modern, based in Massachusetts, ended up being the company offering a trial nearby, said Gawande, a surgeon at Boston’s Brigham and Women Hospital and a professor at Harvard University. He said he received his first shot in August and that he “felt almost nothing.” However, he said, it was a different story when he received the second dose in late September.
“Two days later, I had a fever, chills and needed to stay home,” said Gawande, who is also president of Haven, the joint health company of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase. “I didn’t need to take a day off from my surgery or my public health job for more than a year. I barely let anything knock me down, but that one made me fall. Then, about 24 hours later , I came back standing and doing well “.
Gawande’s reflection on his experience comes as Americans outside of clinical trials are immunized against Covid-19 for the first time, starting last week with the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine this week. As of Monday morning, 614,117 doses had been administered, according to a Centers for Control and Disvention Control tracker.
Gawande said he does not know if he received the vaccine or if he was part of the placebo group in the trial. Although he suspects the side effects he experienced were from the actual vaccine, he said it may have been a psychological response to receiving the placebo. He added that his mother “barely had any reaction” to the shots she received in her clinical trial.
Gawande has stressed that the side effects of vaccines are not necessarily a cause for concern. “This is the immune system that kicks in and your antibodies against the virus are generated,” he said.
Gawande is part of a team of doctors and health experts who advise Biden on the coronavirus pandemic during the transition. On Monday, Biden was vaccinated on live television in hopes of encouraging other Americans to be willing to receive the shot. “There’s nothing to worry about. I’m looking forward to the second shot,” Biden said.
Biden said Tuesday that Americans should remain vigilant about the coronavirus during the holidays, even though the vaccine has begun to be distributed. “Meanwhile, the pandemic is sinking. Experts believe it could get worse before it gets better,” he said.
Gawande presented a similar view on Wednesday, saying high levels of infection currently in the country will cause more deaths from Covid-19 in the coming weeks and months.
“We are at 300,000 deaths. The next 100,000 deaths are already occurring, with new infections over the last week or so,” Gawande said. “It’s really about avoiding the 500,000 deaths, which is really horrible to think about.”