AP was there in all formats when the first shots were given in a first test of an experimental coronavirus vaccine on humans.
The world had been waiting for this moment: the start of a clinical study searching for a vaccine for the new coronavirus that sparked a pandemic.
Lots of reporting has been done on the worldwide hunt for potential COVID-19 vaccines with the U.S. National Institutes of Health as the front-runner, but no one knew when exactly the first shots would be given. When White House reporter Zeke Miller got word that the first volunteers in the clinical trial would be injected in Seattle the following day, he had the news on the wire within minutes. Meanwhile, D.C.-based medical writer Lauran Neergaard had leveraged years of source work to separately arranged exclusive access to the trial, enabling AP to have an all-formats team present at the start of the experiment.
Jennifer Haller gets a kiss from her adopted foster dog, Meg, at her home in Seattle, March 16, 2020. Earlier in the day, Haller was the first person to receive a shot of a potential vaccine for COVID-19, at the start of the first-stage safety study clinical trial of the vaccine at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle.
AP Photo / Ted S. Warren
Volunteer Jennifer Haller waits in an exam room before she received first shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential coronavirus vaccine, at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle, March 16, 2020.
AP Photo / Ted S. Warren
Dr. Lisa Jackson, a senior investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle, pauses in a hallway at the facility, March 15, 2020. Jackson is leading the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine for COVID-19. “We’re team coronavirus now,” she said on the eve of the experiment. “Everyone wants to do what they can in this emergency.”
AP Photo / Ted S. Warren
Dr. Lisa Jackson, a senior investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle, works in her office with an image of the coronavirus taped to her door, March 15, 2020.
AP Photo / Ted S. Warren
A binder used in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential coronavirus vaccine rests on a counter at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle March 16, 2020.
AP Photo / Ted S. Warren
Dr. Lisa Jackson, right, a senior investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle, confers with pharmacist Michael Witte, March 16, 2020. Jackson is leading the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential coronavirus vaccine, which began with the first volunteers receiving shots of the vaccine.
AP Photo / Ted S. Warren
Volunteer Jennifer Haller is reflected in a mirror as she waits in an exam room before receiving a shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine for COVID-19, at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle, March 16, 2020.. Haller was the first person to receive the shot in the study.
AP Photo / Ted S. Warren
Jennifer Haller works from her Seattle home, March 16, 2020, after receiving the first shot in a clinical trial of a potential vaccine for COVID-19.
AP Photo / Ted S. Warren
Jennifer Haller, right, laughs with her children, Hayden, center, and Ellie, in their Seattle home, March 16, 2020. Haller’s teenagers “think it’s cool” that she’s taking part in the first clinical trial of a potential vaccine for COVID-19.
AP Photo / Ted S. Warren
Jennifer Haller poses in the living room of her Seattle home, March 16, 2020. Earlier in the day, Haller was the first person to receive a shot of a potential vaccine for COVID-19.
AP Photo / Ted S. Warren
Volunteer Neal Browning receives a shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine for COVID-19, at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle, March 16, 2020. Browning was the second patient to receive the shot in the study.
AP Photo / Ted S. Warren
Pharmacist Michael Witte, left, gives Neal Browning a shot in the first-stage study of a potential coronavirus vaccine, at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle, March 16, 2020.
AP Photo / Ted S. Warren
Neal Browning, right, poses for a photo with his fiancée, Nichole Hoffman, at their home in Bothell, Wash., north of Seattle, March 16, 2020. Earlier in the day, Browning was the second person to receive a shot of a potential vaccine for COVID-19.
AP Photo / Ted S. Warren
Neal Browning, center, works a puzzle with his fiancée, Nichole Hoffman, and their children, Addison Browning, 11, far left, Nicole Browning, 8, far right, and Harper Hoffman, 9, second from right, at their home in Bothell, Wash., north of Seattle, March 16, 2020. Browning says his daughters are proud that he volunteered for a clinical trial of a vaccine for COVID-19.
AP Photo / Ted S. Warren
Volunteer Rebecca Sirull holds a digital thermometer and a form used to keep a record of her vital signs over time, at her home in Seattle, March 16, 2020. Earlier in the day, Sirull was the third person to receive a shot of a potential vaccine for COVID-19 at the start of the first-stage safety study clinical trial at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute.
AP Photo / Ted S. Warren
Rebecca Sirull works on her laptop at her home in Seattle, March 16, 2020, after receiving a shot of a potential vaccine for COVID-19.
AP Photo / Ted S. Warren
Rebecca Sirull, right, chats with Madeleine Busch, left, one of her roommates, at the home they share in Seattle, March 16, 2020. Earlier in the day, Sirull was the third person to receive a shot of a potential vaccine for COVID-19 coronavirus at the start of the first-stage safety study clinical trial of the vaccine at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute.
AP Photo / Ted S. Warren
The AP Health and Science Team worked across formats and regions to coordinate and plan coverage. Despite a curveball from the White House on the eve of the experiment, the team worked overtime to preserve access to the study and the volunteers. The result: AP was the only news organization to witness the first participants receiving an experimental COVID-19 vaccine.
To get the news out fast, a Slack group was created with Seattle-based medical writer Carla K. Johnson sending real-time updates. Photojournalist Ted S. Warren and freelance video journalist Michael Ciaglo took exclusive visuals that were used by customers worldwide. \
On the production side, health and science video journalist Federica Narancio produced several video cuts, and video journalist/motion graphic designer Marshall Ritzel produced an animated explainer for AP’s Horizons lifestyle and technology service. The newsroom at AP headquarters erupted in cheers when the exclusive crossed the wire. AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt later appeared in the newsroom to congratulate the team.
The package was a customer and consumer success. The story with accompanying photos received nearly 500,000 views on AP News and the app. More than 500 news outlets posted the story online, and the story received 115 downloads on AP Newsroom. It also got incredible social engagement, with 1.5 million Facebook interactions and more than 800,000 likes. The video went everywhere, used by ABC News, Voice of America, the New York Post, Time and others.
For ensuring AP was the only news organization in the room at a critical juncture of the coronavirus pandemic response, and for delivering distinctive journalism to customers worldwide, Neergaard, Warren, Johnson, Ciaglo, Narancio and Ritzel win AP’s Best of the Week award.