Quote:
Some of the plot elements involving people's actions/reactions seemed a bit quirky, but they do symbolize the quirkiness in various segments in human society. ... The doctor who injects herself with the experimental vaccine sybolizes our frustration with the reality of how long it takes to develop vaccines doing it the correct way.


We do have a similar real world example, not for vaccine development, but to prove that Helicobacter pylori was the major cause of duodenal/gastric ulcers. Dr. Barry Marshall infected himself to prove that H. pylori were the primary cause of Peptic Ulcer Disease thus fulfilling Koch’s Postulates and eventually shared a Nobel Prize in Medicine for his efforts.

1985
Marshall publishes the results of self-induced infection.

Marshall, Barry (2002). "The discovery that Helicobacter pylori, a spiral bacterium, caused peptic ulcer disease". In Barry J. Marshall. Helicobacter pioneers: firsthand accounts from the scientists who discovered helicobacters, 1892–1982. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 165–202. ISBN 0-86793-035-7.

Dr. Barry Marshall: Nobel Prize