By Rachael Hagerstrom
In February 2023, three months into our relationship, Pfizer decided to break up with me. The company did this by way of two, no-nonsense letters. Pfizer tried to let me down gently. We are “temporarily paus[ing] all participant visits” they said initially. But we both could tell the end was near. “Unfortunately,” said the second letter, sent on the heels of the first, “your participation in the study will need to end early.”
And that was it. After two shots, some 3,000 participants and I — a number described as half the original cohort — had been booted from our Phase 3 trial. We had been in the final stage of testing before a new treatment headed to the Federal Drug Administration for approval. And what we all wanted was a vaccination to prevent Lyme disease.
Earlier this spring, Pfizer announced that the vaccine, called VLA15, was up for FDA review, the final stage before a new product can go to market. If approved, it will be the first publicly available Lyme vaccine in over two decades.
I remembered getting those shots in the trial — or at least, I think I did. Did I receive the Lyme vaccine or a placebo? And what was the real reason participants in my group were so unceremoniously discontinued? I pulled out the old participant paperwork I had saved. It listed Dr. Glenn Freed as my principal investigator, or study doctor. “Ask me offline about that experience,” said his LinkedIn bio.
So I sent him a message to do just that.
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