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'Back to normal': Local Moderna vaccine study participant reacts to vaccine's approval

Dr. Jennifer Porter said she wanted to do anything she could to help everyone get back to normal.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The first doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are expected to be administered to patients Monday.

On Sunday, the first doses of a second COVID-19 vaccine were shipped to hospitals nationwide. The Food and Drug Administration approved the Moderna vaccine Friday, and the Centers for Disease Control signed off on it within 48 hours.

Moderna said it's shipping about 6 million doses total. The first shots could be given as soon as Monday.

"Being an OBGYN, being a physician and living through and dealing with this crazy pandemic is really what inspired me to sign up for the trial," Dr. Jennifer Porter said. "Just anything that can be done to try to get us back to normal."

Porter enrolled in the Moderna COVID-19 study in Jacksonville in September.

"I did my research. I read through everything. Having the science background that I do, I felt very very comfortable with the study and so it was a new experience for me, but it was a really great experience," she said.

"It really gave me some insight into the vaccine into the study itself, and it has really allowed me to educate my patients and friends and other people in the community," Porter said.

She said the process has been pretty simple. She filled out a lot of paperwork, got blood taken, had several COVID-19 tests, a shot and once a week they check in on her through an app and a phone call. Porter said she hasn't had any adverse side effects. 

"I just think it’s very important for everyone to know that the medical community is completely behind it, and if you want to get it you shouldn’t hesitate," Porter said.

Seeing video of the trucks pull out of the Moderna Mississippi manufacturing plant Sunday full of doses to distribute, Porter said she’s glad she could play a part in that reality.

”I’m glad that I could participate. This is for everybody. This is for our country. This is for the world. We want to try to get back to normal and this is the way to do it, and I was just so happy that I could be a part of the trial and a part of somebody who can help us get to that," she said.

Porter is one of more than 750 people on the First Coast participating in either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine studies at the Jacksonville Center for Clinical Research. 

"In both cases, really just absolutely spectacular results," Dr. Michael Koren, who heads up both studies, said. "These products work incredibly well," he said.

Both vaccines require a second dose a few weeks after the first. Both trials are placebo-controlled studies, meaning not everyone will get the active vaccine. Porter will find out in the next couple of days if she got the placebo or the vaccine. If she got the placebo, she will then be given the vaccine. 

”I would say you can use us [health care workers] as a gauge. If we had any concerns at all, you wouldn’t see almost every doctor I know lining up to get this, complaining that they haven’t been able to get it yet, or it’s still another week or two before they can get it," Porter said.

According to Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida is expecting to get 367,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine this week. Those doses will go to 173 hospitals that didn’t get the Pfizer vaccine, including a dozen on the First Coast and in Gainesville.

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