Preliminary results from a COVID challenge trial involving 36 young adults should this trial design appears safe, according to a recent Reuters article.
Challenge trials, in which participants are deliberately exposed to an agent that can make them ill, raise questions of whether such a trial design is ethical. One camp argues challenge trials are an efficient way to study vaccines and treatments for serious diseases. Others believe, however, that it is unethical to expose people to conditions that can get them seriously ill and for which treatment options may be limited.