Grovedale retirees Joan and Brian Goudge have joined 100 participants in a Barwon Health clinical trial for a COVID-19 vaccine.
Mrs Goudge said the couple believed clinical trials would make a true difference to their community.
“It hasn’t been a pretty picture during the pandemic, but we’re trying to do all the right things and get on with whatever we can do,” she said.
“We really need an antibody for it and when we were asked to volunteer, we thought it would be worthwhile to help everybody.
“If the vaccine is passed and it’s acceptable, everybody is gaining from it. We would encourage people to be part of clinical trials when they have the opportunity.”
Mr Goudge said while side effects were always a possibility with clinical trials, he and his wife were yet to have any issues in their past experiences.
“We’ve been assured we won’t get COVID-19 from the vaccine candidate, but you’ve got to be aware there is a risk of the unknown,” he said.
“It gives us something to talk about together while we’re stuck at home twiddling our thumbs.”
Mr Goudge said the couple had participated in several Barwon Health research projects over the past five years, including clinical trials for shingles and bone densitometry.
“Our doctor first suggested we could be part of a bone density trial and we thought ‘why not?’
“We’ve done four trials at this stage and became interested in the COVID-19 one because of the problems the virus has generated.
“Anything we can do to help research and get this thing rolling would be handy.
“There’s definitely more interest in this one because it’s such an unknown.
“People are frightened and don’t know what’s happening, so this gives them a bit more of a future to look into and it shows we’re on the right track of getting a vaccine.”
