Re:Making Vaccine
by maxerickson on Friday February 05, 2021 @04:35PM
(#26041508)
Why wouldn't they be willing volunteers?
It would be quite possible for it to clearly be informed consent also, at least to the extent the disease was characterized at that point in time.
The reason people keep bringing it up is that the consequences of the pandemic have been much worse than the consequences of allowing a few thousand people to intentionally expose themselves to an infection in a controlled setting¹. It's not guaranteed that challenge trials would have mitigated the pandemic, but it's weird to just outright circumscribe the possibility when the ongoing downside is huge.
1. I use the odd phrasing here because lots of people pretty much choose to expose themselves to the infection anyway; maybe not explicitly, but close enough.
It would be quite possible for it to clearly be informed consent also, at least to the extent the disease was characterized at that point in time.
The reason people keep bringing it up is that the consequences of the pandemic have been much worse than the consequences of allowing a few thousand people to intentionally expose themselves to an infection in a controlled setting¹. It's not guaranteed that challenge trials would have mitigated the pandemic, but it's weird to just outright circumscribe the possibility when the ongoing downside is huge.
1. I use the odd phrasing here because lots of people pretty much choose to expose themselves to the infection anyway; maybe not explicitly, but close enough.