Officially Traded from Team Placebo to Team Pfizer

Good news: we received our second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on 24 June, so we’ll be “fully vaccinated” as of 8 July. It seems like it took forever to happen, but ultimately it happened much faster than expected. We fully admit to having vaccine envy, especially as all our nephews (even the 12-year-old) got vaccinated before we did. Although the vaccination campaign here got off to a slow start, the pace has definitely picked up, and the national and regional governments get full kudos for getting the job done. We expect that Spain will reach the theoretical 70% herd immunity before the US (on a national basis). So here are a few details of how it all happened.

Because I was participating in the Curevac Herald Study it was initially unclear what would happen if our age group became eligible before that vaccine got approval. The press had been positive on Curevac’s early results and there was a lot of optimism. But our turn came before approval, and now we know that Curevac may not get approval at all. More on that in a moment.

We monitored the news as the Basque health service started vaccinating the 50-59 age range. After vaccinating the elderly, healthcare workers and other high-risk groups, Spain is using an age-based approach. My discussions with friends indicated we would be eligible as May ended. On Monday (31 May), I called the vaccine “hotline” for those having trouble using the electronic appointment system. Because we are not eligible for the public health system, we us private health insurance. However, the entire vaccination process is being run through the public health system, so we needed help. When I finally got through, I learned that we needed to go to the local clinic to have a profile created in the public health system first. That afternoon an extremely helpful clerk not only set us up, but also called and got us appointments to get our first shots on 3 June. We were so grateful.

In San Sebastian, most vaccinations are being done at the former bullring/current basketball stadium. We arrived and were stunned at how quickly it transpired – we were in an out in just over 15 minutes (including the mandatory waiting time after the shot). The second appointment is automatically set for the same time three weeks later. Here’s a look at how the arena has been transformed.

Thankfully, the side effects after both shots have been minimal.

Before the first appointment I contacted the study to confirm that I had been given the placebo, and as I suspected I was on “Team Placebo.” Because our area was still experiencing a high number of cases, I was released from the study to be vaccinated. While receiving the placebo seemed disappointing back in February/March, things sure have changed. First, the expected approval in late May/early June did not occur as anticipated. Second, on June 16 Curevac announced disappointing preliminary results – a 47% effective rate at preventing the virus, far below the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines. As a result, tt now appears that the vaccine may not get approval at all. Although the new variants may have played a role in the poor results, some believe it could be the dose or the fact that Curevac relied on natural mRNA. (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01661-0) All in all, getting the placebo was the lucky hand in this game of chance. My friend who received the vaccine has since gotten a first Pfizer dose, but it is unclear whether a second dose will be given as well. That kind of uncertainty and the mixing and matching of vaccines, even of an ineffective one, seems potentially risky.

Having now been vaccinated with an established vaccine has been a relief and we are starting to make plans to travel again, which could lead to more blog posts in the future.

That’s it for now.

Shana & Jeff