This is an accessible transcript for the video 'Participant perspectives: Novavax COVID-19 phase 3 vaccine trial'.
Text on screen: UK leads innovative and rapid delivery of Novavax phase III COVID-19 vaccine trial
Jessica: I wanted to be involved in the trial because I felt that the only way we were going to navigate our way through the pandemic was if people were putting themselves forward. When I volunteered, it felt like a lot of people were sort of sitting back and going, "Well, when there's a vaccine, we'll be able to do X, Y, and Z. Go to the pub, see our friends, see our family." But of course, you can only do that if there are people making themselves available to trial the vaccines at trial stage. And it's not something I'd ever done before, but I thought, well, the only way I can contribute to helping us get out of this situation is to put myself forwards.
Text on screen: Research registries empower people to volunteer to take part in research
Jessica: A friend of mine, let me know that they'd actually been working on something to do with the registry when it went live. She shared it on social media, on WhatsApp and I shared it on again, on Facebook with a wider audience. And as I shared it, I thought, well, I really do need to put myself forward here. I didn't actually expect to get contacted. I thought they'd be inundated with applications and expressions of interest. So I was quite surprised and I'm really pleased to able to play a part when I was approached.
Text on screen: Volunteers were motivated by a sense of altruism
Jessica: Well, I understood the registry was the route into being involved in the vaccine trials. And I didn't know, obviously at that point that it would be the Novavax vaccine that I'd be working with. But I felt that with the pandemic impacting so much of our society, it seemed important to make myself available in the legitimate channels to kind of contribute to that trial.
Text on screen: Over 15,000 people volunteered for the Novavax phase III COVID-19 vaccine trial in the UK
Immanuel: It's been a really good experience. So I've found it's been very well organised. Thinking about how many participants... I think there's over 700 in the Bradford arm, the sort of logistics of that right in the middle of a COVID pandemic with a lot of the clinicians actually also working on the COVID wards. So, for me, it's just been amazing how smoothly it's gone. There's been a lot of flexibility around arranging appointments, and when you actually get to the centre, as I say, one feels very safe there. Plenty of sort of distancing possible from other participants, plenty of people helping and directing where you need to go.
Text on screen: The trial recruited all 15,000 participant in just 2 months
Immanuel: I kind of had a rough idea how it would be, knowing that there would be, in terms of my participation, there would be an initial assessment to see whether I was suitable or if there was anything that would rule me out of being a participant. And then presumably the randomisation would have happened around about then. And then I was given the first shot and then three weeks later, the second. It's really fairly... I wasn't expecting much different to what actually happened, but I was impressed at how smoothly it all proceeded, including as I say, the opportunity of asking questions all the way along and plenty of willing volunteers happy to answer questions.
Text on screen: NIHR. For more information visit: www.nihr.ac.uk