This is scientific American 60 second science. I'm Christopher Intagiyata.

Kristen Choi was scrolling through Instagram this summer when she came across an ad.

I happened to get an Instagram ad one day for the Pfizer trial.

The Pfizer trial for the COVID-19 vaccine.

And it just occurred to me that it was really important for people to volunteer

to build the science for these vaccines.

Choi is a nurse and researcher at UCLA.

She filled out a form to apply, and in August, she got the first shot.

I had a long study visit with a physical exam,

a number of blood tests and other tests, a coronavirus test to make

sure that I was healthy and able to participate.

And then I got the injection that same day.

That first shot didn't seem that unusual, she she says a little soreness in her arm

she didn't know whether she'd gotten the real thing or just a placebo a month later

she went in for round two the second shot though came with a lot more symptoms than I had ever

experienced with another vaccine. I developed chills, nausea and a headache, fatigue

a few hours after the vaccine. I was feeling pretty sick that day. I went to bed early and

woke up in the middle of the night with a fever. The next morning, her fever spiked to nearly

105. Her symptoms match the side effects of the real vaccine, leading her to believe

she'd gotten the real thing. Later that day her symptoms subsided, but she became

concerned that others might feel similarly sick and conclude, mistakenly, that the vaccine had given them

COVID-19. It's a common myth in America that vaccines can cause disease rather than

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