On The Covid Frontline

Professor Shabir Madhi is leading the South African contingent in a groundbreaking search for a vaccine

- Duenna Mambana & Lesego Seokwang

The sight of a hypodermic needle hovering over your skin is enough to give anyone cold shivers, but what if you knew it contained a brand-new vaccine that hasn’t been tested on humans before? That’s a whole other level of scary.

But when Nosisi Ngqiba heard local scientists needed volunteers to take part in Africa’s first clinical trial to test a potential Covid-19 vaccine, she didn’t hesitate. For months the Soweto grandmother had been itching to do something to help fight the virus and now she finally had her chance.

Nosisi (55), who’s a cleaning staff supervisor at a Johannesburg rehab centre, is in good spirits as she chats to us just days after having the jab at a secret location in Gauteng.

“The only side effects I’ve experienced so far is pain in my thigh muscles. Otherwise I’ve been okay,” she says.

But what she’s had to put up with are nosy neighbours who think she might be a potential health hazard.

“There’s even gossip that I’ll end up contracting the virus but I don’t care,” says Nosisi who’s among the 2 000 volunteers who signed up for the trial spearheaded by Wits University.

“My children know how passionate I’ve been about ridding our country of the virus. I’m just an ordinary citizen but I wanted to make a difference – even if it’s in a small way,” she says.

But isn’t she even a little worried knowing she’s been injected with an untested vaccine?