How COVID-19 human challenge trials work -- and why I volunteered | Sophie Rose

TED Talks Daily

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 20 November 2020

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In April 2020, epidemiologist-in-training Sophie Rose volunteered to be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. As a young, healthy adult, she's offering to take part in a human challenge trial, a study where participants are intentionally exposed to SARS-CoV-2 to test vaccines and gather critical data. Explaining how challenge trials could speed up the development of effective vaccines, Rose shares why volunteering was the right decision for her.

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0:00.0	I'm Elise Hugh. This is TED Talks Daily. COVID-19 continues to spread across the globe, killing tens of thousands, and we're still waiting on effective vaccines to get to us.
0:13.8	In today's episode, the infectious disease researcher Sophie Rose introduces us to the idea of human challenge trials.
0:21.1	That's where volunteers deliberately expose themselves to the coronavirus to find out whether
0:25.7	vaccines are effective.
0:27.7	It sounds scary, but as she explains in her TED Women 2020 talk, these trials could get us
0:33.5	to vaccines much faster and save lives.
0:37.0	A quick note that this talk was recorded on October 26th,
0:40.5	2020. COVID-19 vaccine development is continuing to evolve, as are the ethical considerations
0:46.7	around human challenge trials. In April 2020, I made what many perceive as a risky decision.
0:57.2	I volunteered to be deliberately infected with COVID-19.
1:01.0	This infection would be part of what is called a human challenge trial,
1:04.8	where young, healthy people are given a vaccine
1:07.3	and are deliberately exposed to the virus that causes COVID-19. These trials help researchers figure out more quickly if a vaccine and then deliberately exposed to the virus that causes COVID-19. These trials help
1:12.6	researchers figure out more quickly if a vaccine is working. I think this research is crucial
1:19.1	because today I'm going to speak to you for six minutes. In that time, roughly 1,250 people
1:25.1	will be confirmed infected with COVID-19.
1:30.2	21 people will die.
1:35.1	And in this pattern, we'll repeat, hour after hour and day by day,
1:40.2	until we're able to vaccinate most of the 8 billion people affected by this global crisis.
1:47.0	Scientists have been working around the clock to make those vaccines a reality but what should we do when the human cost of waiting for those vaccines is rising by the day this is where human challenge
1:52.9	trials come in they're different from the traditional phase three vaccine trials taking place now
1:58.1	where people are given a vaccine or placebo and ask to go about
	...

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