COVID-19:Scientists plan ‘human challenge’ vaccine study

Scientists from Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in the Netherlands are hoping to deliberately transmit SARS-CoV-2 to participants to test vaccine efficacy. Already, 240 people have stepped forward to participate in the “human challenge” trial.

The trial has the support of 1Day Sooner, a nonprofit organization advocating for COVID-19 human challenge trial volunteers. In a press release, they write, “These studies may be essential to developing enough proven vaccines to vaccinate the whole world in 2021, not just the wealthy.”

As Meta Roestenberg, a researcher at LUMC who will be involved in the trial, explains: “Such a study can be important in answering questions we still have about COVID-19: How long will you stay protected after an infection? How do we compare vaccines? How many antibodies are you producing? How much virus load causes an infection in which cases? You can answer such questions with this research.”

Source: Scientists in the Netherlands plan ‘human challenge’ vaccine study, November 26, 2020.Accessed November 28, 2020. COVID-19 vaccine: Live updates (medicalnewstoday.com)