Barboursville couple taking part in Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine trial

BARBOURSVILLE, W.Va. (WCHS/WVAH) — As more talks of a COVID-19 vaccine increase, one West Virginia couple is on the monumental effort to develop and release a vaccine that is showing promising results.

One key part of the development: volunteers. Finding out they could be part of the trial, the Barboursville couple said there was never any hesitation after, and they're feeling great!

"I was kind of surprised by your reaction when I asked you, 'Well, I'm going to do the vaccine trial, are you interested?' and you said, 'why not,’" Randal Custer said to his wife, Susan Whitmore.

A simple two-word response that's changed this couple's lives.

"I found one up in Columbus that is a research company called Pfizer," Custer said.

The couple is taking part in the trials at Pfizer for a new coronavirus vaccine. Just last week, Pfizer released preliminary data showing its vaccine is more than 90% effective.

"It's after the second one you have a reaction. It was a rougher ride than a flu shot but it’s easier than others like shingles," Custer said.

Since it's a blind experiment it's unknown, if participants received a placebo or COVID-19 vaccine.

"The placebo can make you feel dizzy, or you even develop some sort of symptoms,” West Virginia University Microbiology Associate Professor Ivan Martinez said. “It's hard to know. to be honest. Pfizer and Moderna both show that there are some small side effects when they inject the vaccine."

Custer and Whitmore have completed both rounds of the trial, each saying they had reactions, making them optimistic they got the real thing.

"It's a mild problem compared to having your friends dies. We’ve had three of our friends die from COVID,” Custer said.

Whitmore said her daughter has been doing their grocery shopping for them since March.

“I told her ‘now that I know that I’ve had the vaccine, I said maybe I should do the grocery shopping for you," Whitmore said.

But even with the trial vaccine, this couple is still masked up, not taking any chances.

"People need to know they need to wear masks,” Whitmore said. “They need to keep social distance. We’re not having a big Thanksgiving get-together with a bunch of family and friends."

Health professionals say even when a vaccine is released, safety guidelines aren't going way.

"These vaccines are 90-95% efficient,” Martinez said. “You don’t want to be in that 5% of getting the vaccine and still getting sick, but also, it’s protecting not only yourself, but protecting your community."

The Barboursville couple won't know until the end of the trial what dose they got, but they're excited to be part of history.

"I'm just one in 25,000 that will have the opportunity to participate in one of these trials and bring the end of this pandemic to the world,” Custer said. “I will end my life, and of all the things that I've done -- which is a lot -- I will look back on this time as one of the most rewarding things I've ever done."

The couple said they are in constant contact with Pfizer about their symptoms. For them, this process has been very transparent.