novavax vaccine trial - anyone else?

[Frazzled2207]

Have just had the call and am going tomorrow. Very excited. Anyone else doing this?

Thank you for your response GreenPlum.

@cinnamonwhirl

Thank you for your response GreenPlum.

You're welcome!

Well this is exciting! I think I've had the active vaccine already but more than happy to stay in the trial and have some saline jabbed in me (or the active one and either way have 100% surety I'd had it)

I’m just back from Bradford. We had our antibody test then went in for a briefing with John.
He said that things have moved fast since Friday, with lots of changes to plans. Novavax HQ has decided to do a crossover trial which, as PP have said, means everyone will be vaccinated with the real deal. They need two - three weeks to get ethical approval, then they will start bringing us back in numerical order - your number is on the label on the outside of your folder.
We won’t be unblinded, we will receive two jabs three weeks apart. We will carry on with the antibody testing over the 12 month timeframe and in fact it may go on a little longer than that.
What this will tell them is how long immunity lasts. He asked us to stay in the trial and pointed out that the big advantage of doing that is we get Novavax and we get it at the recommended intervals.
Interestingly he asked if we thought we’d had the placebo or the jab and all in my group said we thought placebo because we’d had no side effects. He said everyone had said the same, regardless of which “arm” they’re in, indicating that the vax is extremely well tolerated ( unlike some )
And we got a round of applause and a coffee mug .

Thanks for the update @JosephineDeBeauharnais. That's excellent news and really interesting about the lack of side effects. I noticed in the news reports about Novavax results that side effects and safety weren't mentioned at all - just efficacy. I wondered why, perhaps it's because there is very little to report?

@andadietcoke
I am so excited about Friday!
I'm at 12.30. hopefully see you!

@JosephineDeBeauharnais
thanks so much for the update.
Interesting i didn't even have a sore arm so am so convinced I had the placebo.
Was anyone grumpy?

Grumpy? As a side effect? No, everyone was excited and said how emotional they felt about the success of the trial and how invested they are, to the point where none of my group would consider having any of the alternatives.

Blimey... the share price is quite high today 🤣

How do you buy shares? Is there an idiots guide? I meant to back in October. Guess I've left it too late.

Up from $6 a year ago to $266 today!

My FA says I should've bought yesterday (thanks for that!) and it's a punt so only to put in what I'm prepared to lose. Which seems to be the case with any investment. I don't know how you buy them though - I have people who do that for me 🤣

I wish I’d bought in at the beginning of the trial - thought about it then didn’t because I’d put my betting money into another investment

I’ve just had an email from my lead doctor about the crossover. Very excited to definitely get the vaccine one way or another.

Can I join the age 42 club aswell?

@mollypuss1
of course! I wonder if there's a reason 42 is such a popular age on the trial!!!

Oh no @Frazzled2207 I'm 10am. In the nicest possible way I hope we don't cross paths!

I do wonder what the thinking is behind jabbing the 'real vaccine' group with a placebo rather than unblinding everyone and just jabbing the placebo group. Surely that would be much easier. But there must be some value in keeping us all blinded (but we'll all know that we've had it just not sure when)
Would appreciate anyone's thoughts!

@andadietcoke

Oh no *@Frazzled2207* I'm 10am. In the nicest possible way I hope we don't cross paths!

Lol! yeah you would be really fed up to still be there at 12.30! Hope it goes well

@mollypuss1

Lovely to have you in the club!

42 is the best.

Maybe because it keeps people coming back for their appointments so they can check declining antibody levels? Otherwise active vaccine people might just think 'ooh, I've had the vaccine, don't need to bother any more'? If they ever want to try boosters in a sub group they'll also need active vaccine people.

@andadietcoke
yes all very true.

@Frazzled2207

I do wonder what the thinking is behind jabbing the 'real vaccine' group with a placebo rather than unblinding everyone and just jabbing the placebo group. Surely that would be much easier. But there must be some value in keeping us all blinded (but we'll all know that we've had it just not sure when) Would appreciate anyone's thoughts!

It's the only way to keep the whole cohort blinded for longer term monitoring, surely? (I'm not in the trial but was discussing it the other day with an American colleague who is in the novovax trial there, she's a scientist and keeps abreast of developments)

I assumed it was to keep us in. If we're all going to get it, we don't need unblinding and the data keeps coming.
Otherwise people are offered other ones, unblind, and potentially drop out.

ah see what you're saying - because the likelihood is everyone will get a vaccine now sometime soon (and almost certainly by the end of the trial) so they will end up having to unblind everyone. If they basically guarantee everyone that they have had it, then people will hopefully be motivated to keep going which they otherwise may not.

That's what I assumed. They will want to keep us all for the antibody tests to prove the long term efficacy.
If I was getting offered AZ next week I'd have to unblind but then my data couldn't really be used by Novavax because they can't prove it was them, not AZ.
I'm not getting offered anything anytime soon so it makes sense for me.

I'm in group 6 which might not be long away but now I know about the crossover I'm DEFO staying in the study!