| Through the horrors unleashed in 2020, I found solace in following the development of Covid-19 vaccines. Watching the candidates cross one barrier after another or get back on track after a stumble gave me hope. Secretly, I was also hoping I could be a part of the grand challenge. In October, I got my chance. A month after signing up with the U.K.'s Covid-19 Vaccine Registry, I got a call from the National Health Service. Among 250,000 volunteers signed up at the time, I was chosen to take part in a 15,000-subject Novavax vaccine trial. Early-stage trials indicated the vaccine was safe, allowing a final-stages test of its ability to prevent Covid-19's symptoms. This wasn't my first experience with a clinical trial. In 2009, as a graduate student at the University of Oxford, I had volunteered in a hepatitis C vaccine study. I was fascinated by the mind-boggling complexity of the human immune system and how small interventions could be used to program it. I felt fortunate to be healthy enough to play a tiny yet crucial role in scientific progress. Progress in vaccinology, however, is typically quite slow. When I checked in with Paul Klenerman, a professor of gastroenterology at the University of Oxford who was one of the leaders of that trial, he said it had failed to move beyond phase 2. The vaccine was safe, but hadn't produced a strong enough immune response to stop the disease. "That is a pity," said Klenerman, "and we still need to figure out why it didn't work." Even today, there's no effective hepatitis C vaccine available on the market. Yet there was something to celebrate. The failed hepatitis vaccine had been designed using an adenovirus, and that same technology was used by researchers at the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca to make their Covid vaccine. The Oxford-Astra shot has since gained emergency use authorization in the U.K. and India. Novavax uses a different mechanism than AstraZeneca's or the mRNA vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna. The experimental vaccine is a form of the spike protein that helps SARS-CoV-2 enter cells. It also contains an adjuvant, a substance that enhances the body's immune response and is also used in some flu vaccines. In November, I got two shots three weeks apart as part of the trial. The process was straightforward and each appointment took less than an hour. There were no noteworthy responses or side effects to report, leading me to suspect I was part of the placebo arm of the trial. So at my third appointment, where I had some blood drawn, I told the nurse about it. He said that 90% of volunteers seem to report the same thing and no more than 50% have been given a placebo. "It's an exceptionally well-tolerated vaccine," he said. Stan Erck, chief executive officer of Novavax, told Bloomberg TV that he expects to have efficacy results from the clinical trial in the U.K. during the first quarter of 2021. The company also started a 30,000-person phase 3 trial in the U.S. on Dec. 28. There is, of course, no guarantee of success. But science progresses with every vaccine candidate and every clinical trial participant. If you get a chance to participate, you'll be helping a larger cause.—Akshat Rathi
Akshat Rathi writes the Net Zero newsletter, which examines the world's race to cut emissions through the lens of business, science, and technology. | 
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