A few hours of flu symptoms? Definitely worth it for this woman who took part in the Covid-19 vaccine trial

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Susan and Dr Thomas Froehlich

Four hours of aches cured by a common pain reliever.

This is the extent of side effects Susan Froehlich endured after taking two injections of an experimental Moderna Covid-19 vaccine. And she would do it “absolutely” again if necessary.

“I woke up with horrible stomach aches and a headache, and it was like I was at the start of a bad flu,” Froehlich told CNN during his coronavirus world town hall on Friday night . “And so, I had nothing to take for that at that time, so I had a lot of pain until about four hours later when my husband woke up and I asked him to go get me some Naproxen. “

“All of these symptoms are gone. If I had taken Naproxen right away, I think these symptoms would have improved more quickly. But my muscles hurt, my joints hurt, my bones hurt, my jaw hurts, ”she says. “But it was for such a short time.”

She and her husband, Dr Thomas Froehlich, who treats cancer patients, received the first dose on August 21 of either the vaccine or a placebo. Participants in the blinded study were not informed.

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After the second dose on September 18, she said she woke up in the middle of the night 12 hours later in pain. “Every part of my body ached for about four hours,” she told Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Her husband was not surprised by her symptoms, which he says are common when people are given medication.

He had no symptoms and thinks he must have been given the placebo.

Susan Froehlich said she would resume the vaccine “absolutely, hands down” if it meant experiencing a similar reaction.

“And if it becomes necessary for me to get it once a year, you can bet I’ll be the first in line,” she said. “We have to make sure everyone gets this vaccine. It’s so much better than catching the disease. We now have several friends and relatives who have contracted Covid, and I don’t want to go through it.”

Her husband agreed, adding that he will advise cancer patients to take it because “it is completely safe.”

“What you’re going through is definitely not terrible, and it’s better than catching the virus,” he said.