Local Opinion: Why I am volunteering to be infected with the coronavirus

The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

Arizonans are facing an uncertain future. Our health and our finances are at risk, our routines have been disrupted, and our department of health reported an average of 63 COVID-19 deaths a day this July. This pandemic purgatory will continue until we have an effective vaccine, so it is imperative that vaccine development proceed as quickly as is safely possible. That’s why I volunteered to be intentionally exposed to the virus that causes COVID-19 as part of a human challenge trial. These trials might reveal lifesaving information about the coronavirus and can help put an end to this pandemic.

Some of our leaders don’t want to consider challenge trials, claiming they are too risky. However, there is a firm precedent for conducting them. The drug Tamiflu was developed using challenge trials, and influenza is a deadly disease by any measure. Scientists also used human challenge trials to develop vaccines for malaria, cholera, and typhoid.

By selecting a young and healthy cohort, the mortality risk in COVID-19 challenge trials can be brought in line with living kidney donation. Like donating a kidney, volunteering for a challenge trial is not a decision to be taken lightly, which is why I gave considerable thought to the risks and benefits of participating before I volunteered. I am confident that the personal and societal benefits vastly outweigh my risk, and I believe that volunteers should be allowed to participate. I vehemently disagree with those who claim that human challenge trials should not be considered.

Traditional Phase 3 vaccine trials require that participants have a significant chance to be exposed to the illness in question to determine vaccine effectiveness. This means that, paradoxically, the more COVID-19 is contained, the longer it will take to develop a vaccine. Mitigating the impact of the pandemic in the short term prevents bringing it to a conclusive end. This is not a concern with challenge trials.

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Further, using challenge trials does not require abandoning more traditional methods of vaccine development. Implementing them alongside traditional Phase 3 vaccine trials lets researchers more efficiently allocate resources, understand how different viral loads impact the body, and determine how the immune system responds to different methods of exposure. Additionally, some of the steps we can take now to prepare for challenge trials, like preparing facilities to conduct them in, will have a lasting benefit to the United States. Repurposing laboratories for challenge trials improves the United States’ pandemic preparedness, strengthening our ability to combat future diseases and addressing a deficiency in our current medical infrastructure.

Acting in the face of uncertainty is neither comfortable nor easy, but it is necessary. There is an undeniable risk associated with conducting human challenge trials. However, I believe that we should harness this proven method of vaccine development.

Those of us who have the ability to shoulder this risk should do so on behalf of those who cannot. Conducting human challenge trials could allow us to shave months, not to mention millions of dollars, off the vaccine development process. The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates second-quarter production to be $1.9 trillion less than 2019. That’s an average loss of production of over $20 billion a day.

Developing a vaccine just one day sooner would have an enormous impact. Ideally, a vaccine candidate already being tested will prove viable, but we won’t be certain of that for months. In the meantime, we cannot be cowed into paralysis. The most responsible course of action is to proceed with human challenge trials.