The volunteers lining up for Covid-19 challenge trials
by Natalie Grover Science correspondent from on (#5992W)
Non-profit organisation 1Day Sooner has attracted over 38,500 willing participants
Human challenge trials - in which young, healthy volunteers are intentionally infected with a virus to allow vaccines and treatments to be tested quickly - have been used in the fight against diseases ranging from typhoid and cholera to malaria.
With the announcement on Tuesday of such trials to help develop a vaccine against Covid-19 there is a key difference - there are as yet very few proven therapies for the virus and we know little about its long-term effects.
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