The first medical trial in the world to be approved for intentional exposure by participants in coronavirus is looking for more volunteers as it intensifies its efforts to help development of better vaccines.
His test University of Oxford started last April.
The first phase, which is still ongoing, is focused on finding out how much "amount" of virus (viral load) is needed to cause an infection, while the second will aim to determine the immune response needed to prevent infection.
Researchers are close to identifying the least likely virus infection, which ensures that about half of people exposed to it will be asymptomatic or mild. COVID-19.
They then plan to expose volunteers to this dose of the initial variant of the virus to determine what levels of antibodies or T cells are needed to prevent infection.
"We have learned a lot about her Covid-19 the last two years, but the emergence of new variants means that we may need to continue to improve vaccines. " explains Ellen McShane, Professor of Emology at the University of Oxford and lead researcher on the study.
The test findings will help make the future development of a vaccine much faster and more efficient.
Volunteers for the second phase
Now that researchers are nearing completion of the first phase of the project, they are looking for volunteers for the second stage.
Only volunteers aged 18 to 30 with "excellent health" participate in the study. Participants must have been vaccinated, have had coronavirus or both.
Once exposed to the virus, they will be quarantined for at least 17 days and anyone with symptoms will be treated with monoclonal antibodies.
Source: Huffington Post