Human Testing

Scientists in the UK will soon begin the world’s first “human challenge trial” for the COVID-19 vaccine, meaning they will intentionally infect healthy volunteers with the novel coronavirus to see how well the vaccine works. But even healthy people can get seriously sick from COVID-19, so is a trial like that worth the risk? Matthew Memoli directs the laboratory that conducted human challenge trials for the flu vaccine at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. (Originally aired Jun 1, 2020).