How a Covid vaccine trial volunteer from Kibworth was one of the first people in the world to be protected against the virus

A Kibworth councillor who volunteered for the Covid vaccine trial has now found out that he was one of the first people in the world to be protected against the virus.

Cllr Kevin Feltham said he did not hesitate to put his name forward for the trials last year.

And last week he was told the good news that his jab was in fact the vaccine, as opposed to a placebo - so he has been protected against Covid-19 since last summer.

Cllr Feltham is now urging people to get the vaccine when they are called.

He said: "If everyone has the vaccine, we can get rid of this bug and finally get back to normal."

The 72-year-old has a PHD in microbiology and worked in that field for many years.

He added: "In all my working life, I have always jumped in to help with trials so I had no hesitation with helping out with this one."

Dr Feltham, who suffers from asthma and type 2 diabetes, took part in the trial for the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine at University of Nottingham last August.

They gave some of the volunteers two injections over four weeks - some with the real vaccine and the others with a placebo.

He then had to take weekly Covid tests, as well as filling out questionnaires every week about what had done that week. All the Covid tests came back negative.

This week he was told that he was one of the people who had the vaccine - so while the population now waits to be called for their jabs, he can be happy in the knowledge that he has already had it.

"There were no side affects at all," said Cllr Feltham.

"I had a slight soreness in the arm but that soon went.

"It really was no problem at all - just like having the Flu jab.

"People have said to me that I must have been so brave but it is just a jab.

"Now I feel fantastic and urge everyone else to get their jab when they are called."