BANDUNG - When the call for Indonesian volunteers to test a potential vaccine against Covid-19 was sounded in July, motorcycle-taxi driver Fadly Barjadi Kusuma and seven family members signed up for the trial without hesitation.

Mr Fadly and his wife, Ms Mira Nurani, both 32, passed the health screening and were deemed eligible for the late-stage clinical human trial.

The vaccine in question is being developed by Sinovac Biotech, a private Chinese pharmaceutical firm. The company is also trialling the vaccine in other countries including Brazil, Turkey.

Ms Mira's three sisters and another relative also signed up for the trial. While they do not live under one roof, they stay close to one another in Bandung, which is a 2½-hour drive from Jakarta.

Mr Fadly's sister and mother-in-law, however, did not make the cut due to high blood pressure.

Mr Fadly told The Straits Times that he and his family hope a vaccine will be found soon.

"Being a trial volunteer means helping everyone to fight the virus," he said. "If this vaccine doesn't work, our health could be at risk. But if it works, I will be the first to benefit. Others will also benefit. Everybody benefits."

Ms Mira said she signed up a week after Mr Fadly took his first dose on Aug 11, and showed no negative symptoms. She was also persuaded by her sister, who had volunteered in a vaccine trial for the H5N1 avian influenza - also known as the bird flu - around a decade ago.

"We are privileged to be able to get the vaccines earlier than others. I hope to help others by joining," the laundry attendant told The Straits Times.

"When I signed up, many people I know also did the same. That further encouraged me," she added.

In Indonesia, Sinovac Biotech has teamed up with state-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma to carry out the late-stage trial. This is the final step for getting regulatory approval from BPOM, the Indonesian food and drug authority. Padjajaran University in Bandung is also assisting in the trial.

Officials say they are targeting to vaccinate around 160 million people - out of a population of 270 million - to achieve "herd immunity". The term refers to almost everyone being immune to an infectious disease.

Mr Fadly said it would be better to be vaccinated early rather than wait in a queue of tens of millions of people later.

"When the vaccine is finally found, just in my city of Bandung thousands would queue for it and who knows, we would have to pay for it," he said.

"I am prone to catching the coronavirus. I need self-defence. A vaccine will help me."

No negative symptoms

Mr Fadly received his first vaccination on Aug 11 and the next one two weeks later.

"The first injection made me so drowsy that I felt like I hadn't slept well for days," he recalled. "I went to bed at 5pm. This has never happened before as I am a night owl."

The second shot left him with a headache and a sore arm.

"I took paracetamol and the symptoms went away. The headache was probably due to fatigue. I continued working even after the vaccinations," he said.

Ms Mira's experience was better.

She only felt the prick of the needle and the second vaccination just enhanced her appetite.

"My appetite surged for three days. Then, everything went back to normal," she said.

It has been two months since and all the family members have not had any negative reaction to the vaccinations.

"I feel fine. I sleep and eat normally... no coughing," Mr Fadly said.

Overcoming initial doubts, ostracism

Many of Mr Fadly's friends admonished him for taking part in the clinical trials. They told him he was a fool for putting his life on the line.

Volunteers are not paid. Their only reimbursement takes the form of transport fares to the Bandung laboratory.

In Mr Fadly's case, this is a 30-minute drive from home.

"They called me stupid. They said, 'What if you die because of the vaccine?' I told them 'If I die, it's not your business.'"

Some of his friends had even mistakenly believed that he had caught the disease and ostracised him.

"They think I am getting vaccinated because I am sick. I told them if it were true, then they could have just vaccinated patients at the hospital, not me," he said.

Mr Fadly, who has three children between four months and six years old, admitted that he was initially doubtful.

"Certainly I was scared... about getting something (foreign) injected into my body."

But he found comfort in knowing that he was not the only volunteer in Indonesia - or in the world, for that matter - to be taking part in Covid-19 vaccine trials.

"A lot of people are overly worried because they do not know much about it. They watch TV but do not probe deeper," he added.

Dr Achmad Yurianto, a senior official at the Health Ministry said that in general, "safety is very much guaranteed" in late-stage clinical trials.

"If it weren't safe, we wouldn't have gone ahead with phase three," he told a Covid-19 webinar on Oct 19, in a response to a query by The Straits Times.

Hoping for the best

It will take another four months before Mr Fadly and his family undergo their final screening, which also marks the completion of the trial. He and fellow volunteers are scheduled to have an interim health screening, involving blood tests on Nov 24.

Every month, they receive a telephone call from testers asking after their health and general well-being.

Besides observing the usual Covid-19 health protocols, including wearing a mask, washing their hands frequently and keeping a safe distance from others, they are also barred from leaving Bandung.

"We are being closely monitored. We are not supposed to take any medication that could weaken our immune system," he said.

But otherwise, they are able to go about their daily routine as usual.

"There are no other special measures. They (testers) told us to continue with normal activities. We can continue to work," he added.

Fellow volunteers have set up a support network in the form of a WhatsApp group so they can communicate with one another.

It is too early to say that the vaccine is working as hoped.

Ms Mira said: "We leave it to God. We just say 'bismillah' (in the name of God)."

Mr Fadly added: "At least if anything happens to me, if I die, I will have died trying to help others. I will die a martyr."