PLAINFIELD, Ind. — It’s been about five months since Greg Nus received his first shot of the Moderna vaccine. At the time, it was an experimental vaccine that was not yet given emergency approval.
The 55-year-old signed up for the trial over the summer. He was picked among 30,000 other people and traveled to Cincinnati to participate.
“I was just reading about people volunteering, and it got me more interested in participating because I already wanted to find a solution,” Nus said.
Being part of the trial, Nus didn’t know if he got the vaccine or the placebo. He had an idea after feeling some side effects from the second dose but didn’t know for sure.
“About 14 or 15 hours later is when I woke up, and I had some pretty good chills going on. I took my temperature, and it was elevated. So, I took something for that and just went back to sleep, and I was fine,” he said.
Health officials say this is common after the second dose, and many people have reported the same symptoms.
A few days ago, Nus received an email from the trial, asking if he wanted to be “unblinded.”
“Just like everybody else, I wanted to be 100 percent sure. So, I drove to Cincinnati two days ago, and I unblinded myself, and they said yes, you were vaccinated.”
Nus said it is exciting to be a part of something that is now helping millions of others.
Since his two doses, he said he is doing great and is optimistic about the future. He encourages everyone to get it when it's available.
“There is a bigger light at the end of the tunnel than there was months ago,” he said.
Moderna will continue to monitor his health for another 20 months as they continue their research.
The vaccine has been proven to be 95 percent effective and was given emergency approval in December.
Moderna also announced plans to increase the production of its vaccine to make 1 billion doses by the end of this year.
In a previous interview, Nus said he made an inaccurate assumption that some thought he was “crazy” for taking the vaccine. He said there had been a concern from some that he may have received a live virus, which he did not instill the fact, “that was not possible with this mRNA type vaccine.”