A call was sent out to volunteers and they get a spray of coronavirus up the nostrils, and 14,000 signed up, but why did they accepted such task?
It's called the 'human challenge trial,' and the purpose of getting shot up full of coronavirus is for developing a vaccine. It's also ethically controversial way to test vaccines, by infecting volunteers to see what works best?
The virus has already infected 4,207,399 cases and killed 284,335 people all over the globe as of writing, and there is no effective vaccine yet.
One of the wildest consequences of having a healthy volunteer is that no cure exists that can be given to the participants.
Human challenge trial
Dr Nir Eyal, director of the Center for Population-Level Bioethics at Rutgers University, said, "It's not every day we give a healthy individual an exposure to a pathogen - the very same thing doctors are trying to protect people from."
He added that the need for a vaccine is more urgent than ever, which is why conducting this ethical trial has been considered.
Creating a vaccine is the only way to get things back to normal. It's also the only way for people to go back to their daily routines without the threat of the fatal COVID-19. With the vaccine, many can reclaim their lost employment during the COVID crisis.
The bad news is developing a vaccine may take 18 months or more, keeping social distancing as a measure up to 2022, or an impending second wave this coming winter.
Developing a vaccine will be long and arduous, and can take years while everyone hides in their homes. In the final testing of vaccines, scientists will also test its reaction to many people to see its efficiency.
14,000 volunteers may be the key to developing vaccine
Most of the top epidemiologists, philosophers, and vaccinologists have suggested and advocated human challenge studies to hasten the process of finding a vaccine. Eyal and his group say that with 'careful design and informed consent', that could get a vaccine earlier and save lives too.
In the US, there is no such precedent in the coronavirus crisis, though politicians and volunteers are clamoring for one. A group of more than 14,000 volunteers have advocacy for such a move, with 35 congress members as those in charge to sanction human challenge trials as a quicker and ethical alternative.
In Europe, the London-based hVIVO and Switzerland-based SGS are working do similar studies, with the World Health Organization doing their part in creating everything to go about in an ethically acceptable design.
Given the circumstances, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will never consider such a drastic option without a cure, for now, nothing will happen but things can change.
Dr Matthew Memoli, director of clinical studies at the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health said it will be considered, but anything can happen to alter some things, still not discounting it as an option in the foreseeable future,
Three companies like Pfizer, Inovio and Moderna are getting there, and tests will be needed to know if their cures work. Dr David Magnus remarked you will not know how far they want to go.
One reason why the 14,000 volunteers are willing is to find a cure for the coronavirus. A vaccine is the key to life before the deaths and lockdowns.
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