I'm receiving no money for my participation. I wasn't in the initial Phase I trial, a few hundred people had already received the vaccine before me with no unexpected side effects.
I guess I'm risking it because someone has to. Vaccine trials are incredibly safe and highly regulated. In reality, the worst-case was that it didn't work rather than my head exploding.
I have a "red alert" card so if I'm found unconscious a paramedic knows to contact the study team to find out if I'm in the control arm or I've had the active vaccine so they can rule out if it's important to why I was found unconscious!
But it is just a piece of paper that the team printed out, and I think I lost it.
It's in my iPhone medical ID which I carry round far more often than my wallet. (Paramedics almost always check that here in the UK)
The likelihood of it being of diagnostic usage is pretty low anyway. A vaccine is highly unlikely to cause the sort of reaction that means I won't be conscious.
I guess I'm risking it because someone has to. Vaccine trials are incredibly safe and highly regulated. In reality, the worst-case was that it didn't work rather than my head exploding.