[ad_1]
He is a brave soul who deliberately allows himself to be infected with the COVID virus.
Even if you are young and healthy, there is no guarantee that you will not get seriously ill.
You also cannot be sure that you will not develop long COVID, the chronic debilitating consequence of an infection that can affect people of all ages.
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
But thousands of volunteers have expressed interest in the first human challenge trials for the disease to be run in the UK, if scientists can get final ethical approval.
Volunteers will be under intense medical scrutiny and given Remdesivir if they develop symptoms, a so-called rescue treatment.
But recent research has shown that the drug makes little difference, so it’s not much of a comfort.
The first 90 volunteers will have the virus expelled through their noses while scientists calculate the minimum dose necessary to trigger an infection.
They won’t even get a vaccine, that comes in later trials.
It is an extraordinary altruism. A vaccine is the most likely way out of the pandemic, with its terrible impact on health and the economy.
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Challenge tests will accelerate development.
Scientists are currently conducting vaccine clinical trials involving approximately 10,000 volunteers over several months.
By comparing how many COVID infections there are in people who received the vaccine with those who received a placebo, they hope to show whether or not it protects against the virus.
A challenge trial needs fewer volunteers and only takes a few weeks to show if a vaccine has any effect.
And with a standard testing procedure, you could make direct comparisons between vaccines.
Only those that look the most promising would be pushed into the biggest trials.
The big problem with challenge studies is that it would be unethical to deliberately infect people who are at high risk for serious diseases.
The elderly need protection the most, but they have less active immune systems and tend to respond worse to vaccines.
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Therefore, traditional clinical trials involving older volunteers will continue to be needed.
COVID-19 will be with us for years. The first wave of vaccines, some of which could be ready early next year, is highly unlikely to halt the spread of the virus.
But there are many other vaccines in early development, and the sooner they can be tried, the sooner they can get back to normal.
