Recovered Coronavirus Patient Donates Blood To Help Vaccine, Treatment Research
BOSTON (CBS) -- Lara Woolfson spent her morning with a nurse collecting her blood. The samples she is sending could help researchers find a way to fight the coronavirus.
"I was one of the first people in Boston to get it," Woolfson said.
She believes she contracted the virus at a large gathering back in early March. She has fully recovered, and her blood is highly desired by researchers.
Woolfson contacted a company called Sanguine Biosciences that collects samples from recovered COVID-19 patients and shares them with researchers.
"They made a post looking for people who had been recovered for two weeks or longer," she said. "I'm assuming since I had it so early in the city I am one of the first waves who can donate."
Woolfson said her samples may be used to help develop a vaccine for COVID-19, or plasma treatments that use antibodies to help those whose own immune systems cannot fight the virus. Dr. Wayne Morasco of Harvard Medical School said the treatment shows some promise.
"There is good science behind it, and anecdotal cases that have been published, largely out of China, have shown therapeutic treatment for the people who have received it," he said.
Woolfson is grateful to have found a way to make her recovery work for others.
"Definitely knowing that I could be helping to find a vaccine for COVID-19 was a huge motivating factor," she said.