Covid-19: AstraZeneca may expose vaccine trial participants to virus

Team Udayavani, May 29, 2020, 12:24 PM IST

AstraZeneca is developing a leading coronavirus vaccine with Oxford University and has started phase 2 and 3 trials of the vaccine.

Now, the chief executive says although it is too early to deliberately expose vaccine trial participants to the pathogen, it may become an option.

AstraZeneca is looking to recruit around 10,000 adults and children in Britain and a few of the  participants will have to become infected in the course of their normal lives to achieve a reliable reading from the study over the next few months.

Pascal Soriot, CEO, AstraZeneca, said, “We are running against time. We are seeing already in Europe the disease is declining.  Very soon the disease intensity will be low, and it will become difficult, so we have to move very quickly”

“If the disease gets to a very low level, maybe challenge studies will have to be considered. But we felt it’s too early today to do that”, he added