The letter, addressed to National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, is calling for vaccine trials in which volunteers would be intentionally infected with the novel coronavirus to test if the vaccine works. This is different from the way COVID-19 vaccine trials are currently being executed, in which participants simply go about their everyday lives after receiving the vaccine while researchers wait to see whether they get infected.
The letter is urging the NIH and World Health Organization to consider human challenge trials because they “can greatly accelerate the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.” Signatories consisted of academics with expertise in medicine, law and philosophy.
The letter comes after 35 members of the House of Representatives signed a letter April 20 also calling for human challenge trials.
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