Allen fire chief participating in COVID-19 vaccine trial

ALLEN, Texas - Allen's fire chief is one of the tens of thousands of people worldwide who are helping researchers develop a COVID-19 vaccine.

Like a lot of people, Chief Jonathan Boyd says he just wants life to get back to normal. Participating in a vaccine clinical trial is, for him, a small contribution to help make that happen.

“I know there is going to come a time when I’m going to talk to our firefighters about getting the vaccine and the community about getting the vaccine and I wanted to do it from a place of understanding,” Boyd said.

He is part of a study for the Moderna vaccine, which already cleared early-stage safety tests. He received his first shot August 25 and doesn’t know if he got the real thing or a placebo.

“I did get a sore arm and a little fever after the first shot, so that may indicate it was a vaccine. But there’s really no way of me knowing for sure,” Boyd said.

He’s still wearing a mask and social distancing. If he did get the vaccine it could be weeks before antibodies develop.

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Boyd says he understands people have questions.

“I do understand the concerns that a lot of people have because all of this is rushed and there’s a lot of news out there,” Boyd said.

But he says he’s studied the data and trusts the science.

In the meantime, he says there is a vaccine proven effective -- and that’s the seasonal flu vaccine. He urges everyone to get it to help minimize the risk first responders face on every call.

“We have to assume everyone who has flu-like symptoms has the coronavirus, so if we can get rid of one of the viruses and slow the spread of that, that will help us focus on the coronavirus,” Boyd said.

Boyd will get another shot at the end of the month and says he hopes to eventually find out if he got the real vaccine.