Why I became a virus ‘guinea pig’: Woman reveals the personal reason for devoting years to help vaccine study – as scientists warn we may end up needing several different jabs to ward off COVID-19
- Linear Clinical Research running COVID-19 trial with a Chinese pharmaceutical
- Rachelle Kalic said her father’s Uber job loss motivated her to join human trial
- Doherty Institute’s Damian Purcell said more than one vaccine may be needed
A woman joining a coronavirus experiment has revealed her father’s job loss as an Uber driver motivated her to be part of a world-pioneering human vaccine trial.
Rachelle Kalic is subjecting herself to injections as part of a Perth-based experiment being run by Linear Clinical Research with Chinese pharmaceutical giant Clover Biopharmaceuticals.
For her troubles, she will be paid $2,000 over two years and must refrain from excessive drinking and even strenuous exercise during certain times.
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Rachelle Kalic is subjecting herself to injections as part of a Perth-based trial Linear Clinical Research is running with Chinese pharmaceutical giant Clover Biopharmaceuticals. She explained her father’s job loss as an Uber driver motivated her
Ms Kalic said she was driven to participate in one of the world’s first human trials of a coronavirus vaccine.
‘It is personal. My dad is an Uber driver, and so he saw his source of income just dry up,’ she told the ABC’s 7.30 program.
‘So he’s actually on JobKeeper at the moment. Mum’s a bit concerned, like, she sees it necessary, she doesn’t see why I should do it.
‘It’s not just some person with a rusty needle in the back of a shed injecting live coronavirus. It’s not about that.’
Professor Damian Purcell, the Doherty Institute’s head of molecular virology, said COVID-19 was so complicated that several vaccines may be needed to combat potential mutations.
‘It is actually likely that we might need more than one vaccine and as many as we can develop is probably the right way to go at this point in time,’ he told the ABC.
The Linear Clinical Research trial is one of 17 COVID-19 clinical evaluations trials worldwide.
Clover Biopharmaceuticals started working on their vaccine candidate in early January, before the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Australia.
The World Health Organisation lists 132 preclinical evaluations.
The Linear Clinical Research trial is one of 17 COVID-19 clinical evaluations trials worldwide. Pictured is a participant helping researchers develop a new drug
The Perth-based Linear Clinical Research is experimenting with a possible COVID-19 vaccine with Chinese pharmaceutical giant Clover Biopharmaceuticals