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Coronavirus pandemic
ChinaScience

Vaccine race: ‘unprecedented’ momentum and questions for deliberately infecting volunteers with Covid-19

  • Scientists are debating whether the rewards of human challenge trials are worth the risks
  • Lack of proven treatment for the disease creates ethical issues for those considering the strategy

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Illustration: Perry Tse
Josephine Ma
Shi Zhengli, a top virologist nicknamed China’s “bat woman” for her pioneering research on bat viruses, has spent much of 2020 answering controversial questions thanks to US President Donald Trump’s disputed coronavirus origin theory targeting her lab.

But when she joined a World Health Organisation (WHO) advisory group in April, she was tasked with weighing one of the most pressing ethical dilemmas in humanity’s fight against the Covid-19 pandemic: is it justifiable to deliberately infect healthy young people with the disease if it helps scientists discover a vaccine?

Shi Zhengli is China’s top virologist and is called the “Chinese batwoman” for her work with bat viruses. Photo: Baidu
Shi Zhengli is China’s top virologist and is called the “Chinese batwoman” for her work with bat viruses. Photo: Baidu
The process is called a “human challenge trial” (HCT), and Shi was among a group of scientists gathered by the WHO to look into the feasibility, and pros and cons, amid mounting advocacy from volunteers, politicians and scientists.

The global acceleration of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has infected nearly 17 million people and killed over 666,000, has prompted some scientists, ethicists and volunteers to challenge the traditional views about HCTs – but they all agree that such trials must be done ethically and with the free consent of volunteers.

The WHO advisory group, comprising more than two dozen scientists from different countries and disciplines, discussed technical issues about how to design and implement human challenge trials, should the green light be given by a future ethics committee and health authorities.

Among the questions the team grappled with, three were particularly contentious.

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