LONDON (Reuters) – Britain became the first country in the world on Wednesday to allow volunteers to be exposed to the COVID-19 virus to promote medical research into the pandemic.
The trial, which will begin within a month, will see up to 90 healthy volunteers aged 18-30 exposed to COVID-19 in a safe and controlled environment to better understand the virus’s effects on humans, the government said .
To make the trial as safe as possible, the version of the virus that has been circulating in England since March 2020 will be used instead of one of the new variants.
The study will initially try to identify the smallest amount of virus needed to cause an infection, he said. Volunteers could then be given vaccine candidates before they are exposed to the virus.
The volunteers are paid for their participation.
British company secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the study would help identify the best and most effective vaccines for longer-term use.
“These human challenge studies will take place here in the UK and will help accelerate scientists’ knowledge of how coronavirus affects humans and ultimately promote the rapid development of vaccines,” he said.
The government’s vaccines task force, Imperial College London, the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and the clinical company hVIVO, which pioneered viral human challenge models, are working on the study.
Reporting by Paul Sandle, published by Sarah Young and Christian Schmollinger