Covid-19 vaccine-trial volunteers look to make a difference

Victoria Smith had lost three patients to Covid-19, while another patient had lost her husband and brother to the virus. So when the New Orleans-area family physician learned in July that her health system would participate in a vaccine trial, she was in the lab to get her first dose the next day. The trial that Dr. Smith entered, for Pfizer Inc.’s experimental Covid-19 vaccine, seems a lot like any other medical study. There is paperwork, blood work and a pair of shots three weeks apart. She keeps a diary of how she is feeling to share with researchers. She has been paid about $400 so far. And yet the stakes make the Covid-19 vaccine trials unique. “Being part of a trial to develop a...