U.K. is planning to deliberately infect dozens of healthy young adult volunteers in the coming weeks with COVID-19 to learn more about how the virus affects people and check the vaccines’ effectiveness. The research is the first human challenge study for COVID-19 announced in the world. It has been approved by the country’s clinical trials ethics body and aims to start in the next few weeks.
Almost 90 healthy adults aged 18 to 30 are being recruited for two areas of research, according to a statement from the U.K. government made on February 17. The first will check different amounts of virus to determine the smallest amount needed to cause an infection and start an immune response. The organizers said the research would help identify factors that influence how the virus is transmitted.
The World Health Organization says such research can be precious for testing vaccines because fewer participants need to be given experimental inoculations to gauge their efficacy and safety, potentially speeding the development of immunizations.
