Controversial idea to speed coronavirus vaccine gains ground

[Elderberry]

The Hill By Peter Sullivan - 04/24/20

An idea that might seem outlandish at first is gaining some ground as a way to speed development of a coronavirus vaccine: intentionally infecting people with the virus as part of a trial.

The idea, known as a “challenge trial,” would deliberately infect a few hundred young, healthy volunteers, who were first given either the potential vaccine or a placebo. Those picked would be well informed about the risks.

That would allow the effectiveness of a vaccine to be determined faster than a traditional clinical trial, which would require that researchers wait for some of the participants to become infected in the course of their daily lives. 

Supporters say the challenge trial could save several months in the search for a vaccine, which is widely seen as critical for people to feel confident again with social gatherings.

More: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/494417-controversial-idea-to-speed-coronavirus-vaccine-gains-ground

[PeteS in CA]

There are at least two vaccines in US clinical trials - Moderna and Inovio - and Jannsen Research (Johnson & Johnson) has a vaccine that is a few months away from beginning clinical trials. So this could be a test method that could have one or more vaccines ready for use some time late this year or early next year.

[Fishrrman]

"The idea, known as a “challenge trial,” would deliberately infect a few hundred young, healthy volunteers, who were first given either the potential vaccine or a placebo. Those picked would be well informed about the risks."

How about doing it this way:
- Young volunteers needed
- You'll get a full physical before acceptance
- If accepted, you'll get a test inoculation of the vaccine
- Once inoculated, you'll be given a dosage of the actual virus
- If you stay in the program this far, you'll receive a tax-fee payment of $15,000.
- If you develop actual infection, all your medical expenses will be paid
- If you complete the program, you'll receive another tax-free payment of $30,000.

Interested...?

[jmyrlefuller]

It would seem that health care workers, already in harm's way, would be ideal candidates for this kind of study.

But you would then likely need a control study "in the wild" to compare to real-world conditions, not just high-contagion ones.

[Neverdul]

It would seem that health care workers, already in harm's way, would be ideal candidates for this kind of study.

But you would then likely need a control study "in the wild" to compare to real-world conditions, not just high-contagion ones.

@jmyrlefuller

Would that not require health care workers to forego wearing PPE to ensure they become infected, which may put other non-COVID-19 patients at risk as some of the health care workers may be those that are asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic spreaders?  Keep in mind also those working often go home to families. And some of them are working long hours under stressful conditions, potentially not making them good candidates for a controlled randomized double blind study.

Not to mention that while we focus on deaths and hospitalizations, there are younger healthier people who do get very sick from this, sometimes for several weeks - not so sick as to require hospitalization and who do recover, but sick enough not be able to work. Would we really want to put our front line health care workers at risk of being out of commission when this has already been a problem in some places?

Typically, controlled randomized double blind studies involving drug trials to test, not for the efficacy but the safety of a new drug, are done in an isolated controlled environment where the volunteers are housed in dormitory like facilities and under constant medical supervision.

And in going to the 1DaySooner website, that is what they are advocating.  But they also say “Hopefully, pharmaceutical treatments will also be available by the time a study is conducted.” And we aren't there yet.

@Fishrrman

They are looking for some 2,000 volunteers so the cash payments that you propose alone would be between $75 and $90 million dollars. Perhaps worth it. If I were young and perfectly healthy and single and childless, and not having anyone depend on me and currently unemployed, I would do it. And they wouldn’t have to even pay me $45,000.