WHO conditionally backs Covid-19 vaccine trials that infect people

‘Challenge’ studies would deliberately give coronavirus to healthy volunteersCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageControversial trials in which volunteers are intentionally infected with Covid-19 could accelerate vaccine development, according to the World Health Organization, which has releasednew guidance on how the approach could be ethically justified despite the potential dangers for participants.So-called challenge trials are a mainstream approach in vaccine development and have been used in malaria, typhoid and flu, but there are treatments available for these diseases if a volunteer becomes severely ill. For Covid-19, a safe dose of the virus has not been established and there are no failsafe treatments if things go wrong.Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Medical research Coronavirus outbreak World Health Organization Infectious diseases Science World news Vaccines and immunisation Source Type: news