Stepping Up for a Safe Vaccine
Joanna Gurrola Mahoney- Site Director Centex Studies, Inc
Joanna is working hard these days. Not only is she at the helm of a clinic conducing clinical trials for Covid-19, but she is also clocking in during weekends and lunch breaks the classes and assignments that will lead her to her dream of becoming an Oncologist. Cheerful, humble and above all really smart, her passion for medicine is contagious:
“I was born in McAllen, TX to Mexican immigrants, and ever since I was little I have always liked to help people. While I was in high school I had the opportunity to take a medical terminology class and this really helped me understand Medicine. I also volunteered at McAllen Medical and got a CPR and First Aid certificate. My goal is to become an oncologist because we have suffered a lot of cancer deaths in my family. Also I live in a low income area where a high number of people can’t afford healthcare, so I would like to be a doctor to help as much as I can.”
The McAllen site of Centex Studies, of which Joanna is the director, previously recruited patients for a vaccine trial for Moderna, and is now recruiting patients for a trial studying a drug from AstraZeneca and a vaccine from Janssen Pharmaceutical.
When I ask how she explains the benefits of study participation to potential enrollees, as well as the side effects she explains: “For the vaccine trial the benefit is that they are receiving a lot of valuable information regarding Covid, and they also have the opportunity to participate in a very important study. If you receive the vaccine as opposed to the placebo you also have a the opportunity to be one of the first people in the United States to be vaccinated. And in most cases there is also monetary compensation for your time. In the Moderna trial for example participants received $90 for each clinic visit.”
“The side effects we have observed are only minor inflammation and pain in the injection site, and in some cases a slight fever, muscle pains and a cold, and none of these last more than 48 hours.”
What are the main concerns of participants? “The question that we get asked more frequently is whether the vaccine contains the active virus, and the answer is no. Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation on the Internet that make people hesitant to participate, but we reassure them that this vaccine will not give them Covid-19. The other main concern is whether we will ask for documentation regarding the participant’s immigration status. All we ask for is an ID with an address in case of an emergency so that everyone, regardless of status, can participate.”
Minority representation is key in all clinical trials, and so laboratories seek out clinics with a diverse population. Outreach can be challenging, but Centex has performed well. “I am very proud of the community response that we have had” Joanna continues “Because there are many people that are very old-school and not open to new ideas. Also here in The Valley we had a very tough time with the virus, we had a lot of people getting sick and a lot of deaths, so people were really scared. But on the other hand women especially understood that this is part of a solution, so they showed up. I am proud that the Hispanic community is stepping up”