United Kingdom “Artificially infected” Acceleration of vaccine development for new corona October 21, 4:47
In order to accelerate the development of the vaccine for the new coronavirus, the British government has conducted a study in which healthy people are given the vaccine under development and then artificially infected with the virus to investigate the effects of the vaccine. Announced that it will provide 4.6 billion yen in support.
According to the announcement, a study conducted by Imperial College London and others will first investigate how much virus can cause infection in healthy people between the ages of 18 and 30.
Then, after administering the vaccine under development to another healthy person, we will artificially infect it with the new coronavirus and investigate the effects and side effects of the vaccine.
The subjects will be monitored by doctors and scientists 24 hours a day to see if there are any abnormalities for up to a year after participating in the study.
The vaccine to be used in the study has not yet been decided, but with the approval of the UK regulator and ethics committee, the study is expected to begin in January next year.
According to the British government, these studies have been done with other pathogens such as influenza, but this is the first time they have been done with the new coronavirus.
"The results of this study will be useful to people in the UK and around the world as they deal with pandemics," the research team said, adding that safety is paramount. I will.
WHO 8 Ethical Standards
WHO = World Health Organization announced in May eight criteria for ethically permitting research to artificially infect humans with the virus for the development of a vaccine for the new coronavirus.
The criteria should include: ▽ expected to be more profitable than risk, ▽ to be conducted in an environment in line with the highest scientific, clinical and ethical standards, and ▽ sufficient information including risk. It includes strict implementation of "informed consent" to obtain consent after informing the subject.
Regarding the announcement by the British government, WHO spokesman Harris said at a regular press conference at the United Nations European Headquarters on the 20th, "I want everyone who participates in this study to understand what kind of risk they are at risk. , The risk must be minimized. "
Expert "Ethically very difficult"
A visiting professor at Aichi Medical University, Tsuneo Morishima, who is familiar with the treatment of infectious diseases about the research published by the British government, said that he did not yet know the details of this research, saying, "Originally, the effect of the vaccine is in a natural state. The mode of infection with the new coronavirus is still unknown, and some people in their 20s and 30s worldwide die of severe illness. Even healthy people are artificial. I feel that there is a great risk and ethically very difficult points to infect. "