Oxford University scientists plan to reinfect dozens of adult volunteers with the coronavirus in the second UK clinical trial to study deliberately quarantined Covid-19 infection – this time among people who have already recovered from the virus.
Such “human challenges” trials are controversial because they deliberately infect healthy people, and the UK is so far the only country to carry it out with Covid-19, researchers said.
The new trial is focused on examining the limits of human immunity and the effects of the virus on the body from the moment of re-infection. A better understanding of protection against previous diseases will help new treatments and vaccines, say researchers from Oxford.
The first Covid-19 challenge study, led by Imperial College London researchers on infectious diseases, began in March with a handful of volunteers isolated at the Royal Free Hospital in London, part of the state-funded national health service. The study received a pledge of more than $ 45 million from the British government.
Oxford’s trial is funded by the London Wellcome Trust, a healthcare charity. As many as 64 people aged 18 to 30 will be quarantined in twisted phases at University hospitals with approximately 17-day intervals, according to Helen McShane, an Oxford vaccineer leading the trial.