Controlled human infection with SARS-CoV-2 to study COVID-19 vaccines and treatments: bioethics in Utopia

July 2, 2020

Søren Holm

Journal of Medical Ethics

The medical field swims against seas of uncertainty every day, from how to treat a patient in the ER to surgery or research. We make peace with that, thanks to statistics. We gather as much data as possible and let the math do its magic to get at least some hints of which decisions would be best to make. According to that, the creation of guidelines tries to be as scientific and fair as possible. The author of this article has a critical and perhaps valid point on how much we still ignore SARS-CoV-2, its behavior inside the body, and how inappropriate it would be to start injecting it on humans already. Yes, there are still too many unanswered questions. This pandemic has lasted longer than anyone would have imagined, as we have kept trying to tackle it through everything that we do know, and we could agree it is still not working. So, maybe it is precisely exploring new ways of getting information that might bring us more clarity. Even though the text disagrees, the question of whether or not performing Controlled Human Infection SARS-CoV-2 Models has become less important than making the right questions about them.Therefore, it would be wise to direct analytical efforts towards strategic proposals on how to ethically conduct these studies, so that individual rights are as respected and honored as the social ones rather than trying to keep holding back on them.

Holm S. Controlled human infection with SARS-CoV-2 to study COVID-19 vaccines and treatments: bioethics in Utopia. J Med Ethics. 2020;46(9):569-573. doi:10.1136/medethics-2020-106476

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