{"id":318750,"date":"2021-09-20T12:24:18","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T12:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/?p=1482603"},"modified":"2021-09-20T12:24:18","modified_gmt":"2021-09-20T12:24:18","slug":"thousands-of-coronavirus-jab-trial-volunteers-trapped-without-vaccination-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/09\/20\/thousands-of-coronavirus-jab-trial-volunteers-trapped-without-vaccination-status\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands of coronavirus jab trial volunteers \u2018trapped\u2019 without vaccination status"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ministers are being urged to help thousands of people who took part in coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine trials who cannot prove their vaccination status.<\/p>\n<h5>Volunteers &#8220;in limbo&#8221;<\/h5>\n<p>Trial participants have described being \u201ctrapped\u201d and \u201cin limbo\u201d because they are unable to get a licensed coronavirus vaccine or travel abroad. Around 15,000 Britons took part in the Novavax coronavirus vaccine clinical trial. The vaccine is yet to be approved for use in the UK.<\/p>\n<p><!-- EMBED START PA Quote --><\/p>\n<figure><script async src=\"https:\/\/content-embed.pressassociation.com\/embeds.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/figure>\n<p><!-- EMBED END PA Quote --><\/p>\n<p>People who took part have said that despite being vaccinated, and volunteering to enhance medical science early on in the pandemic, they are unable to enjoy the same freedoms as the general population.<\/p>\n<p>A petition has been launched on change.org calling for help from health secretary Sajid Javid.<\/p>\n<p>The petition, launched by the Novavax UK Concerned Participants Group, states that UK volunteers are \u201csignificantly disadvantaged\u201d because they face barriers to travel and are unable to get another coronavirus vaccine.<\/p>\n<p>The petition states:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We call on the ministers to rectify the situation immediately so that Novavax volunteers can travel as freely as other vaccinated people<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Retiree Gill Ince, who participated in the trial in September 2020, said she felt like she was \u201cliving in limbo\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><!-- EMBED START PA Quote --><\/p>\n<figure><script async src=\"https:\/\/content-embed.pressassociation.com\/embeds.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/figure>\n<p><!-- EMBED END PA Quote --><\/p>\n<p>The 61-year-old, from Oxfordshire, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I stepped forward early in the pandemic to participate in a vaccine trial. I wanted to do my bit to fight Covid but I feel utterly betrayed by the system and I\u2019m trapped without any vaccination status.<\/p>\n<p>I was given reassurances that I would not be disadvantaged in anyway at a later date. We have no idea if, where or when Novavax will be approved so now we are living in limbo.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s incredibly stressful and I feel like a prisoner. It feels like the most awful situation I\u2019ve ever been put in in my life, because I can\u2019t do anything.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><!-- EMBED START PA Quote --><\/p>\n<figure><script async src=\"https:\/\/content-embed.pressassociation.com\/embeds.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/figure>\n<p><!-- EMBED END PA Quote --><\/p>\n<h5>Data<\/h5>\n<p>The <em>Observer<\/em> reported on 19 September that England\u2019s deputy chief medical officer professor Jonathan Van-Tam suggested to the government that the UK withhold clinical trial data if vaccine trial participants were not being allowed into European countries.<\/p>\n<p>A government spokesperson said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Covid-19 vaccine trials have been absolutely critical to developing safe and effective vaccines which have prevented 230,800 hospitalisations and 112,300 deaths \u2013 and that is thanks to the volunteers who made those trials possible.<\/p>\n<p>Volunteers in formally approved Covid-19 vaccine trials in the UK should not be disadvantaged in relation to vaccine certification policies, and we are committed to taking action on this issue.<\/p>\n<p>Any decision for a participant in a vaccine trial to receive an alternative vaccination should be made in conjunction with the clinicians who lead the trial.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>Featured image via &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/2kjpGTg\">Flickr &#8211; Navy Medicine<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>By <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/author\/thecanary\/\">The Canary<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/uk\/news\/2021\/09\/20\/thousands-of-coronavirus-jab-trial-volunteers-trapped-without-vaccination-status\/\">The Canary<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ministers are being urged to help thousands of people who took part in coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine trials who cannot prove their vaccination status. Volunteers \u2026 <\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/uk\/news\/2021\/09\/20\/thousands-of-coronavirus-jab-trial-volunteers-trapped-without-vaccination-status\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read more<\/a><\/div>\n<p>By <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/author\/thecanary\/\">The Canary<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1541,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338,23295,4,3331,5631,1395,312],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318750"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1541"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":318751,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318750\/revisions\/318751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}