UK plans to be first to run human challenge Covid trials

LONDON, Oct 20 (BBC): The UK is pushing ahead to be the first nation to carry out "human challenge" studies where up to 90 healthy people will be deliberately exposed to Covid.

The trials, which could begin in January, aim to speed up the race to get a Covid-19 vaccine.

The government is putting £33.6m towards the groundbreaking work.

Safety will be a number one priority, experts insist. The plans will need ethical approval and sign-off from regulators before they can go ahead.

Human challenge studies provide a faster way to test vaccines because you don't have to wait for people to be exposed to an illness naturally.

Researchers would first use controlled doses of the pandemic virus to discover what is the smallest amount that can cause Covid infection in volunteers aged 18 to 30.

These human guinea pigs, who will be infected with the virus through the nose and monitored around the clock, have the lowest risk of harm due to their young age and good health.

Next, scientists could test if a Covid vaccine prevents infection.

Lead researcher for the project Dr Chris Chiu, from Imperial College London, said: "My team has been safely running human challenge studies with other respiratory viruses for over 10 years. No study is completely risk free, but the Human Challenge Programme partners will be working hard to ensure we make the risks as low as we possibly can."