KINGSPORT â As the first rounds of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines are distributed to health care workers and nursing home residents, some local participants in the clinical trial are âanxiously waitingâ to find out if they got the vaccine or a placebo. Most participants donât know for sure which of the two they received. The vaccine has been given âemergency use authorizationâ but not yet FDA approval, so the participants are still part of an ongoing trial that is generating data for researchers. Retired Eastman Chemical Co. chemist Bill Tindall said Monday that he and his wife, Judy, volunteered to participate in the Pfizer-BioNTech trial through Holston Medical Group after reading an Aug. 11 article in the Kingsport Times News that reported volunteers were needed.