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How Challenge Trials Speed Vaccine Testing
- Challenge trials deliberately infect small groups to speed vaccine testing compared to large field trials.
- They can reduce sample size from tens of thousands to about a hundred and shorten results to weeks.
Vaccine Supply Drives Faster Trials
- Current vaccine manufacturing won't meet global demand, so multiple vaccines remain necessary.
- That shortage motivates faster development methods like challenge trials to increase candidate supply.
Ethics And Safety Are Central Concerns
- Ethics for challenge trials are debated because COVID lacks a guaranteed rescue treatment.
- WHO guidance weighs societal benefit against individual risk and stresses strict monitoring and informed consent.