, Slate’s series on how life is slowly getting back to normal.
Last month, Jesse Dutton-Kenny bought her first cup of coffee in nearly a year. The Oakland resident, 29, had been a volunteer in the Moderna vaccine trial. She found out about it through her partner of eight years, John Maidens, who couldn’t participate because he’s not a U.S. citizen. When the company unblinded the study in January and revealed that Dutton-Kenny had gotten the placebo, it also gave her a first dose of the actual vaccine. She dutifully waited another month for her second dose, plus two more weeks for the shot to fully kick in. Then, Dutton-Kenny went to a coffee shop, ordered a latte and a croissant, and sat outside to enjoy them both. “It was the most liberating feeling,” she said.