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The global pandemic that has severally affected everyone was originated in Wuhan, Hubei Provence, Central Chin. Covid-19 is a virus that was caused by a novel coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SAR-CoV-2) [previously provisionally known as 2019 novel coronavirus (2019- nCoV)] (Li et al.)12020. This issued in many countries human challenge trials, due to the gravity of the disease, authorities in the U.S. and elsewhere are yet to authorize an ethically charged research procedure called human challenge trials (Dor, Raban 2020)2.
Human challenge trials or controlled human infection trials are a description of clinical trials that are used to find a vaccine where people are deliberately being infected with the disease, as to speed up the process in certain conditions that is tested, young, healthy people will be intentionally exposed to the virus responsible for COVID-19 (Callaway)32020. These tests will allow us, to find a solution to the pandemic disease. Although deliberately infecting people is no joke, Peter Openshaw an immunologist at Imperial College said It is really vital that we move as fast as possible towards getting effective vaccines and other treatments for COVID-19, and challenge studies have the potential to accelerate and de-risk the development of novel drugs and vaccines ( Callaway)32020.
Time is of the essence and a normal vaccine development, takes up to 15 years to be approved and in production. The exploratory stage, which involves basic laboratory research can last up to 2-4 years. The pre-clinical trials, which tests on animals and tissue-culture studies often lasts 1 to 2 years. In addition, Phases I/III all together can take about 5 to 7 years. Then a regulatory review is approved by FDA can last, 1 to 2 years after which the production begins. But as said before because it is a pandemic, time is of the essence, so therefore the exploratory stage is skipped, and the pre-clinical trial is done within months. Phase I trials begin and before it finishes Phase II begins. Phase III trial begins right before, Phase II finishes, and at the same time production of a vaccine begins at risk since not all results are acquired (Florian)4 2020.
This is because there is no time for errors since everyday thousands around the world are affected this can endanger health care workers, since current estimates of U.S. health care deaths are around 1.000 (Dor, Raban)52020.
So, is it ethical to deliberately infect people with COVID-19? Well there are people who will agree to this because it will allow us to find the vaccine faster saving countless lives. But there are those who will be against them, creating conspiracy theories such as 5G technology is somehow the cause of COVID-19 (Cookson, Jolley)6 2020. Nevertheless, people that are against the vaccine do have a point, about infecting people with COVID-19 to find a cure. However, there are both pros and cons into finding a vaccine at a shorter period of time.
As said before the usually time to find a vaccine is 15 years, but due to the severity of the situation scientists are trying every possible platform of development to find the quickest way to disarm this virus, RNA and DNA vaccines can be made quickly because they require no culture or fermentation (Lurie et al.)7 2020. Furthermore, the need to keep health care people safe, increases the need to find the vaccine faster, since if governments delay the vaccine development it would mean that economy would potentially fail. This is due to people being too scared to go to hospitals or the outside world.
On the other hand, there is an increased risk of cons. Such as the death toll might increase due to the limited time of research of the virus. As it is also a pro, is also a con the fact that animal testing is bypassed, in view of the present outbreak, this looks a justified approach, but the problem is that in the absence of animal studies, we can never predict the outcomes in humans (Dab, Shah and Goel)82020. On the case of deliberately affecting people with COVID-19, some might do it for the money neglecting the risks. In addition, the vaccine is done mainly done on healthy young people, who were deliberately affected, therefore it might not work on older people or people who already contracted the disease.
Moreover, there are new vaccine technologies that scientists, are trying to offer. Here are three of them. Firstly, for instance, a DNA/RNA-based vaccine which uses fragments of genetic material. Few advantages are that, vaccines can be quickly designed based on genetic sequencing alone and can be easily manufactured which means they will be cheaper, thirdly it doesnt cause COVID-19. Disadvantages are that this type of vaccine is not yet medically approved for use and they only allow a part of the virus to be made and there is a high chance of the vaccine DNA to be translated into your genome. Secondly, scientists thought of is virus vectors. It uses a weak virus that is incabable of causing disease itself, so that its antigens enter the body. An advantage is that sometimes a single dose is enough to give a long-term protection. A disadvantage is that people who are already asymptomatic might reduce the validity of the vaccine. (Mahalingam and Taylor)92020
In addition, another type of vaccine technology are inactivated vaccines where the virus is treated in such way as to not be able to replicate. An advantage of this, is that it is widely used technology and considered safe to people with who have a low immune system however as said and, in the article, low immunogenicity, so requires multiple boosters (Mahalingam and Taylor)92020.
In conclusion, yes there are disadvantages to finding a vaccine faster and the fact that it might not be ethical does not outweigh the fact that finding a vaccine to a virus that has already over 50 million confirmed cases and killed over 1 million people worldwide (WHO)102020. Thus, many would say is not ethical to deliberately infect people with COVID-19, and they are right its not ethical, but it is necessary.
Referencing list
- Heng L., Shang-Ming L., Xiao-Hua Y., Shi-Lin T., Chao-Ke T., Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): current status and future perspectives. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32234466/
- Ofer R., Yuvai D. (2020) The ethical case for allowing medical trials that deliberately infect humans with COVID-19. The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/the-ethical-case-for-allowing-medical-trials-that-deliberately-infect-humans-with-covid-19-144240
- Ewen C. (2020) Dozens to be deliberately infected with coronavirus in UK human challenge trials. Nature, 586, 651-652
- Krammer, F. (2020) SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in development. Nature, 586, 516-527.
- Ofer R., Yuvai D. (2020) The ethical case for allowing medical trials that deliberately infect humans with COVID-19. The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/the-ethical-case-for-allowing-medical-trials-that-deliberately-infect-humans-with-covid-19-144240
- Daniel J., Darel C. (2020) Coronavirus anti-vaxxers: one in six British people would refuse a vaccine heres how to change their minds. The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-anti-vaxxers-one-in-six-british-people-would-refuse-a-vaccine-heres-how-to-change-their-minds-142207
- Lurie, N., Saville, M., Hatchett, R. and Halton, J. (2020) Developing Covid-19 Vaccines at Pandemic Speed. N Engl J Med, 382, 1969-1973
- Bijayeeta D., Hermal S., Suchi G. (2020) Current global vaccine and drug efforts against COVID-19: Pros and cons of bypassing animal trials. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32554907/
- Suresh M., Adam T., (2020) From adenoviruses to RNA: the pros and cons of different COVID vaccine technologies. The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/from-adenoviruses-to-rna-the-pros-and-cons-of-different-covid-vaccine-technologies-145454
- WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard. Available at: https://covid19.who.int
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