Coronavirus: Thousands volunteer for human challenge trials

Available for over a year

Human challenge trials, or controlled human-infection studies, intentionally expose healthy people to a pathogen to learn more about the disease or test the efficacy of a potential vaccine. Thirty-thousand people from 140 countries have volunteered to be deliberately infected with coronavirus, by registering their interest with a group called ‘1 Day Sooner’. Abie Rohrig, a 20-year-old student in New York and spokesperson for the group, explains why he signed up. Seema Shah, Professor of Medical Ethics at North Western University in Illinois, discusses the ethical issues. (Image: Queuing in masks, Credit: Getty Images.)