When Angela Witkamp heard that a local research company would soon be testing a swine flu vaccine, she had no reservations about signing up her two young daughters for a clinical trial.

“Any vaccination you get, there are side effects,” Witkamp said. “But the benefits of getting the vaccination definitely outweigh them. There are people dying from the swine flu.

[efoods]“Some of my friends call us guinea pigs, but they are not fully informed. The vaccination that they will be studying will be the same that anyone can get at the health department [when it is approved].”

Witkamp and her girls, Baylee, 3, and Emmie, 5, are among thousands of people rolling up their sleeves for science as drug companies, doctors and government officials work to get a safe and effective swine flu vaccine on the market by October.

In June, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic of H1N1, or the swine flu, which has killed more than 300 and sickened more than 43,000 in the U.S. In Texas, 5,373 cases have been reported, with 357 confirmed in Dallas County and 210 in Tarrant County, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

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