Ryan Seacrest

Ryan Seacrest

Ryan is quite simply one of the most influential, well-regarded, and well-known names in Hollywood. He is the quintessential Hollywood insider who...Full Bio

 

Mom, 41, Serving as Coronavirus Vaccine Guinea Pig Shares Experience

Credit: Getty Images/OAWRS/ Stella Sexton

A Pennsylvania mother of two, Stella Sexton, is doing her part amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. Stella signed up for the clinical trial for the DNA vaccine at Perlman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and shared with Ryan Seacrest on-air on Thursday, July 30, that she feels great so far.

The 41-year-old underwent two injections respectively on June 8 and July 1. According to researchers, there's no chance of getting the virus from the vaccine as there's no live or dead virus in it, just DNA that matches it. According to reports, researches expect to roll out 5 vaccine trials before the end of the year.

“I feel great,” Stella shared with Seacrest. “I felt pretty much great the whole time. I maybe felt a tiny bit tired after my first dose, but, other than that, I feel totally normal.”

Stella previously told ABC6 “they give you a little electric shock on top of where the vaccine was injected and that opens the pores in your cells and allows the DNA to enter your skin.”

The mom of two shared with Seacrest she wanted to participate after feeling powerless.

“I just felt I was sitting at home like probably everybody was and feeling sort of helpless and powerless and really feeling for my friends who are healthcare workers and I was wondering if there was something I could do so when I saw this link for a vaccine trial study I knew I was healthy and it just felt like it was my duty to go and do it,” she shared.

Stella added that she has felt safe throughout the process and isn’t concerned about potential longterm effects.

“I feel like my safety has really been at the forefront of this whole process,” she added. “These researchers are just incredibly smart people and they just care so much about us and if they at any point they didn’t believe it was safe for us they wouldn’t do it. … The thing about these vaccines that they’re trying is they really should be safe compared to the older vaccines because they don’t actually contain the whole Coronavirus,” she explained. “They’re just trying to make you immune to those little spike thingys that come out the end of the virus so I felt like it was fairly low risk. … If I haven't had a reaction by now I don’t feel like it’s very likely that I will.”

That said, until the trial is over, Stella explained she has to “act like everybody else and assume I’m vulnerable.”

Listen back to the audio above to learn more from Stella’s experience and if you’re interested, head to clinicaltrials.gov to look for studies in your area. Follow along Stella's journey via her IG @stellavaccinates.


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