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Maryland Man May Be First Person Successfully Vaccinated Against COVID-19

A graduate student from Maryland may be the first person successfully vaccinated against the coronavirusDavid Rach took part in one of the first clinical trials run by Pfizer and German firm BioNTech at the University of Maryland.

"It's exciting," Rach told WJLA. "It's exciting from the side of a participant and graduate student studying immunology and also exciting in the promise of a vaccine by next year and life returning to a semblance of normal."

Rach received the vaccine in May, and researchers said that early results from the tests are promising. They found the antibody levels in Rach and the other volunteers were growing at a higher rate than people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

"I found out when Pfizer put out the announcement, and my friends started pinging me on Facebook, 'Oh, your picture is in the news again!' and I'm like wait what happened?" Rach said." There is a component of relief seeing that it's actually producing results, that the vaccine is producing antibodies."

Rach doesn't know for sure if he was given the vaccine or a placebo but believes he was vaccinated after having a mild reaction to the second dose. He is scheduled to get tested in October to see if he has developed an immunity to the coronavirus.

Pfizer said that if the study goes well, it could produce 100 million doses of the vaccine by the end of the year.

Photo: YouTube/WKMG