Floyd County family participates in COVID-19 vaccination trials

NEW ALBANY, Ind. (WDRB) -- A southern Indiana family is participating in clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine.

Christy Lane and two of her sons are part of ongoing trials for Pfizer's vaccine. They said being part of the trials is a way they can help others during the pandemic.

"I was actually the 17th study participant," said Lane, who is one of 44,000 people testing Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine. "I only had a sore arm — like a tetanus shot."

Lane, a pediatrician in New Albany, Indiana, first heard about the trials on Facebook.

"I said, 'I've got to be part of this trial. I need to be part of this trial.' I felt so helpless," she said. "Like so many other people, (I was thinking), 'What on earth can we do? What can I do to help with this pandemic?'"

The trials are conducted at Kentucky Pediatric/Adult Research in Bardstown, Kentucky. With the trials recently opening to teens, participants vary in age — from as young as 12 to as old as 85.

"I asked my boys, 'Would you want to be a part of this?' and they said, 'Absolutely,'" Lane said.

At ages 13 and 16, Lane's sons will start their trials this month.

"I've been talking to them about, 'What can you do? What can you do to benefit society right now, because right now people are hurting and people have died,'" Lane said.

After having two shots spaced out three weeks apart, Lane said researchers will monitor participants for two years.

As for the vaccine's expedited development, Lane said she isn't concerned.

"If I can give my body to science in a way that's gonna be very safe … It still has to hit every benchmark set by the (Food and Drug Administration)," she said. "It's just able to go faster."

At the end of the day, the pediatrician hopes her family's participation in the trials will be able to help others.

"This is a time we should come together. This isn't a time where we should be fighting and pointing at people. We have got to beat this thing together," she said. "So I think that's important for my boys to see: Don't sit on the sidelines and point fingers, but do something."

Pfizer is the first company in the U.S. to start COVID-19 vaccination trials among teens.