DENVER — As the first COVID-19 vaccines were administered across Colorado, many volunteers who helped get the vaccines through trials watched with pride.
The vaccine delivered to the state Monday was a version from Pfizer, the first vaccine approved in the U.S. Many Coloradans participated in a trial for the Moderna vaccine, which is expected to be approved later this week.
“It’s just exciting to see that we’ve gotten to this point,” said Charles Wynn, who participated in the Moderna vaccine trial through UCHealth. “The part that I played was a very humbling and a very small piece of the puzzle.”
Wynn and his wife Lisa, an OB/GYN with UCHealth, joined the program, receiving their first shot in August. It’s unclear whether they got the real thing or the placebo.
“Charles and I haven’t experienced any side effects and that doesn’t necessarily mean that we had the placebo,” Lisa Wynn said. “Not everyone who receives the vaccine will have side effects.”
“This has been such a taxing year for so many of us and the idea that people who are exposed to COVID every day will soon be offered a vaccine is fantastic,” she said.
The couple expects to find out if they got the real shot or not once the Moderna vaccine is authorized. Lisa said she needs to know because as a frontline healthcare worker she is able to get the Pfizer vaccine if she gets a placebo.
“I need to know so I can stay safe and help take care of my patients and my family.”
The couple realizes the significance of being part of the end of the pandemic.
“It gives us the opportunity to think about the future. For the first time in a long time we allowed ourselves this weekend to think about the possibility of taking a trip – just the two of us and getting away…things like that,” Charles said.
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