>It's worth pointing out that during a pandemic, while participating in a trial does carry a risk, so does not participating. A participant has some substantially greater probability* than the general population of avoiding an infection which apparently carries a risk of death or long term debilitating effects.

Participating also carries risks beyond simply that of the vaccine. Being exposed to any kind of healthcare setting is extremely dangerous right now. I'm taking part in the Moderna trial, and honestly I'm considering dropping out before the second injection. The risk of going into a clinic multiple times where I hear people coughing all over the place is starting to seem unacceptable to me given that I'm fairly certain I've been given the placebo.

FTR, most side effects appear (according to what Moderna published so far) only after the booster shot. So IMO you can't tell yet if you were given the vaccine or not.

Try purchasing a silicone/rubber P100 respirator before doing so? I don't think the supply is a big problem in the US anymore.

Oh yeah, that's for sure. The idea that there's a pretty decent chance that I've been vaccinated already which means I don't have to wait for a vaccine is great.

My life can begin to go back to normal potentially months before it otherwise would.

Are participants eventually informed whether they’re in the treatment or control groups?

At the end of study.

I'd assume that one would be socializing with the same groups of friends/family that they had pre-COVID. With that in mind, wouldn't OP have already established a foundation of trust within those groups? Maybe this sounds naive, but why have friends if they're not capable of trusting you?

> Maybe this sounds naive, but why have friends if they're not capable of trusting you?

You'd have to ask my friends. But they're all more interested and curious than suspicious!

Maybe I'm a dunce but I would believe a friend if they say they're vaccinated or already got covid.

But what about all the folks at the club?

Depends on your friends, I guess!

Right now, many, many folks don't seem to care that people aren't vaccinated either.

There's a surprising number of comments about people trusting me.

It's interesting because that's, not once, ever been a concern. If people don't want to spend time with me until vaccination is more widespread, then that's fine. But the intersection between those who don't trust that I've been vaccinated and those who don't trust vaccination anyway is probably pretty large...