Titas Mahmud, a Bangladesh born medical practitioner in the US, took part in the human trial of the Covid-19 vaccine, developed by the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer, on September 11.
In his Facebook account, Titas, son of playwright, theatre activist and TV actor Momtazuddin Ahmed, wrote: "Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, everyone has been terming us 'frontline heroes' with great respect. Although I was never personally delighted with the term, I felt myself lucky today when I became a subject of the phase 3 trial of Pfizer for inventing a Covid-19 vaccine."
Titas Mahmud spoke to Bangla Tribune about how he got involved in the trial process, the stages of vaccination, and the period he has to be in the process.
How it started
Titas works in a research hospital where around 30,000 people work. Each of the staff got an email that the research centre of Pfizer would recruit 550 volunteers for the human trial.
"Being interested, I started to inquire about the trial process and phoned their chief. I informed them about my eagerness to be a subject in the trial. However, they started primary discussion with me."
The stages
In the beginning, the research centre took personal information of the physician over the phone.
Titas said: "They inquired if I have any disease or take any medicine. But, these issues are not as important as they want all kinds of patients to be in the phase 3 trial."
The trial includes volunteers aged between 18 and 82.
The authorities emailed Titas a 26-page statement of various conditions for study so that the doctor, after going through the conditions, would declare that he voluntarily agreed to take part in the human trial.
Later, interested volunteer Titas sat with the principal investigator who answered his queries about the conditions. Agreeing to the terms, Titas signed on the paper.
The process started with checking the blood pressure and testing Titas for Covid-19.
Testing positive or negative for the coronavirus infection is not a bar to take part in the trial process, he said.
"All of the data will be stored with a code name. Soon after I became a subject of the trial, I was no more an individual to them, rather a code.
"25mg blood was taken from my body to test the antibody. It was done to understand in which stage of antibody my trial process started. Later, I was given an injection."
Next phase
Titas said he has to undergo the follow up process for the next two years and there will be a total of six visits in trial. The next visit is scheduled on October 3.
"They have included an app in my mobile phone. I have to inform them about my health conditions there every week and answer some basic questions so that they can understand the condition of their subject," he said.
Why I joined the trial
When asked about the reason for participating in the human trial, Titas said it was his feeling of helplessness that led him to take such a decision.
"I could do nothing for Covid-19 patients apart from offering them sympathy. From the very point of my helplessness, I joined the trial to help science."
Family reaction
A father of two sons, Titas did not inform anything in advance to his family as they would become worried about the matter.
"When I informed my family that I took part in the human trial, they did not discourage me in any way. My mother and wife took it very sportingly."
Conditions
The 26-page statement of conditions actually contains the matter of ensuring the subject's safety and informing him/her about the doings of Pfizer, Titas Mahmud said.
Alongside the voluntary participation in the trial process, the subject can remove himself/herself from it at any stage.
It was said that the subject will not be infected with the Covid-19 due to the synthetic vaccine made in the laboratory. But it is not known how the vaccine will react if the subject is infected, it can cause damage and even death, he said.
"All my information will be kept secret. However, for any other reason if my personal physician wants to know my health condition, I will be immediately released from the research and my information will be given to the doctor," Titas said.
If the subject ever feels that he is not being treated fairly, he can resort to legal action.
And in the case of women, they must not get pregnant within six months of the start of the trial, and men must not donate their sperm anywhere, he added.
