The coronavirus variants caused concern among the scientific community over the past weeks since the vaccine started rolling out finally. Now, the researchers will conduct The Human Challenge Study to infect healthy and young individuals in the UK with the novel coronavirus. This trial will test the efficacy of vaccines on the coronavirus variants and the latest treatments for the infection.
This study has been approved for ethical reasons and it will start over the upcoming weeks in the UK. The trial will include 90 young volunteers aged from 18 to 30 years. Scientists will infect these individuals in a controlled and safe setting. Moreover, medics will control and monitor their health condition to keep everything under control.
Previously, human trials proved extremely useful in treating and eradicating various widespread diseases. These trials helped the scientists better understand diseases such as typhoid, flu, cholera, and malaria. Moreover, this trial will help answer several questions in the scientific community including the minimum amount of the coronavirus particles to cause infection in humans. This will also help them study the immune response of the human body towards the infection.
The findings of the Human Challenge Study will help experts understand this new disease better. Moreover, it will assist in the development of treatments for the disease and further vaccines.
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This study will be conducted under a partnership among the leading institutions including the Vaccine Taskforce of the UK, the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, Imperial College London, and hVIVO. This is the company that introduced the human models for this trial. The Vaccine Taskforce interim chair, Clive Dix said that they secured various vaccines against the coronavirus infection with proven efficacy in the UK. However, scientists need to look for new treatments and developing vaccines against the infection.
Dix also mentioned that this trial will provide better insights into the mechanism of the coronavirus inside the body. Moreover, this will help us identify the vaccine with the best chance to prevent coronavirus infection. This trial will answer all the questions that prevent the experts from understanding everything about this novel virus.
The Human Challenge Study will help them understand the time required by the coronavirus to start the infection in the body. Also, it will answer all the questions about the immune response towards this infection. Another important query includes which people show symptoms and which ones are asymptomatic. These things will not get an answer without a human trial.
This trial will focus on these queries in the scientific community and the general public. Meanwhile, people are already getting their shots against the virus and new variants of the virus are coming forward. Also, scientists will be unable to run a large-scale trial for the coronavirus vaccine until the end of this year since most people will have immunity against the infection.
The researchers will screen the volunteers to check their health status and see if they already contracted the coronavirus infection. Also, the volunteers will spend two weeks in the hospital in quarantine with regular medical checkups.
