The UK will be the first country in the world to run a Covid-19 “human challenge trial” in which healthy volunteers will be paid up to £4,500 to be deliberately infected with Covid.
The trial, taking place at the Royal Free, in Hampstead, will see a total of 90 volunteers aged 18 to 30, and with no previous history or symptoms of Covid-19, deliberately infected with virus.
Volunteers need to ensure they have no underlying health conditions and no known adverse risk factors for Covid-19, such as, diabetes or being overweight, to take part in the trial and will be given an en-suite private room on the hospitals 11th floor “with a nice view of London”.
After the initial two days quarantine they will then receive a small dose of covid, be monitored and undergo a series of tests, during a 14 day stay at the hospital.
During the trial, medics and scientists will be on hand 24 hours a day to ensure the safety of volunteers as well as monitor the effects of the virus.
Participants will be allowed to go home after they are deemed no longer infectious and will be required to take part in follow-up checks over the next 12 months as a condition of receiving the final instalments of the £4,500 “compensation”.
Chief investigator Dr Chris Chiu, from Imperial College London, said: “We are asking for volunteers aged between 18 and 30 to join this research endeavour and help us to understand how the virus infects people and how it passes so successfully between us. Our eventual aim is to establish which vaccines and treatments work best in beating this disease, but we need volunteers to support us in this work.”
