Can You Volunteer For COVID-19 Vaccine To Be Tried On You?

Can you volunteer for COVID-19 vaccine to be used on you? Well, irrespective of your answer, over 21,700 people have already said yes to the poser.

As a result, they would be exposed to the coronavirus in a concerted effort to speed up vaccine development to contain the virus.

The total of 21,729 volunteers come from 102 countries, and have, as at today, signed up on the scheme codenamed 1DaySooner for the Covid-19 Human Challenge Trial or HCT.

In line with the ideals of The Human Challenge Trials (HCTs), they would be deliberately exposed to infection when they volunteer, in order to study the disease and test vaccines or treatments, according to reports.

Such trials have been used for influenza, malaria, typhoid, dengue fever, and cholera, and is now being used for the coronavirus which has held the human race on the jugular.

 If successful, this could be saving thousands or even millions of lives, and in fact, would be globally celebrated.

Under 1DaySooner, a team of 10 grassroot researchers and scientists, is recruiting volunteers and pre-qualifying them should the need for a HCT arise.

It is because it is not certain how the coronavirus would eventually play out, the report says, not even the lot of talk about “flattening the curve”.

“Beyond mortalities and morbidities, the impact of the pandemic on economy and livelihood are still being felt. There’s no definitive drug for treatment of Covid-19 yet. What’s certain is that a vaccine will be needed to contain it”, the report agencies said.

–Can you volunteer for COVID-19?-

It reiterated the reality that vaccines take long to produce—and it may up to 18 months from now before candidate vaccines are ready for widespread human use.

Before that they must undergo extensive trials in humans. And Covid-19 may have petered out by then.

 Human challenge trials shorten the time before vaccines are ready for use.

On the other hand, 1DaySooner plots a projection of the impact of vaccines, based on the number of people getting COVID-19 and the number of people vaccines could stop from dying.

“Suppose one in six people in the world gets Covid-19 each year, and a vaccine can prevent one in five of them from dying, speeding up vaccine development by: 1 day saves 7,120 lives 1 week saves 55,000 lives 1 month saves 220,000 lives 3 months saves nearly 660,000 lives

“A stretch of time A vaccine goes through multiple stages of testing. Because billions of people could receive a Covid-19 vaccine, its safety and efficacy need to be assured”.

To volunteer for COVID-19, ” candidate vaccine goes through first test on animals. That’s to see if it is safe and whether it provokes an immune response—able to trigger the body’s immune system to produce antibodies that fight the virus.

“It is then tested on a small group of human volunteers for safety and immune response. That’s a Phase 1 trial.

“Usually one group is given a placebo, a second group is given an attenuated version of the virus, before both groups are exposed to the virus.

“They may also return to their normal lives so the effect  of the vaccine in the real world is noted. If the results are good, it goes into Phase 2 trial, using a larger and more representative population of hundreds of volunteers.

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“Phase 3 takes the longest time. Researchers at this point evaluate the effectiveness of the vaccines using thousands of participants.

They look at differences in infection risks and side effects between participants given the vaccine and those given a placebo.

“The target is to find a vaccine that both reduces the risk of infection and causes no side effects. It is the final step before a vaccine is deemed safe enough for widespread use.

“With coronavirus, people are taking special steps to stay safe and fewer people may be interested in volunteering in a vaccine trial”, the report said.