There are still several phase 3 clinical trials going on for COVID vaccines or monoclonal antibodies. They are having trouble recruiting participants because everyone is expecting to get an approved vaccine within the next 3-4 months or so (which may or may not pan out). I found a couple of clinical trials recruiting participants in my area, and they pay between roughly $875 and $1000.
Pros:
50% to 66% chance of getting a real vaccine that could prevent a painful episode of COVID*.
Fistful of fun money, or getting about 0.8% closer to FIRE :)
Be a do-gooder.
Cons:
Make at least 3-4 office visits for blood work, injections, interviews, etc. Budget 1.5 hours each, travel included.
COVID risk at visits.
Regular phone / email reporting - for 12-24 months!
Possibly not a great rate of hourly pay.
Potential opportunity for insurance to weasel out of paying for any subsequent condition, related or not
*This could be valuable if the distribution of approved vaccines continues to be screwed up, and it's not in 3-4 months like everyone expects.
So what do you all think? Be a paid guinea pig, or leave these types of opportunities for the people who really ought to take it, like broke service industry workers or high risk medical professionals?
clinicaltrials.gov can be used to find more details about the opportunities I'm talking about.