

Scientists are working to create a vaccine. Image Credit: PD - John Keith

As the world struggles to contain the ouutbreak, scientists are looking for volunteers to help them develop a vaccine.

For most people, the idea of agreeing to be purposely infected with COVID-19 might seem insane, but as it turns out, a laboratory in London is actually looking for volunteers and it is willing to pay quite a substantial amount of money to anyone brave (or desperate) enough to participate.Scientists at the Queen Mary BioEnterprises Innovation Center in London are seeking 24 volunteers who will each be paid the grand sum of $4,500 to be deliberately infected with two of the weaker strains of coronavirus - 0C43 and 229E - which will cause mild respiratory illness.The volunteers will then be quarantined for two weeks and forbidden to engage in any type of exercise while a team of doctors and scientists works to develop a vaccine as well as new antiviral treatments.It is just one of several such trials being conducted across the world as the virus, which has infected over 110,000 people and resulted in over 3,800 deaths, continues to spread.Hvivo, which runs the lab, will need to acquire permission from the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency before the trial can go ahead.If an effective vaccine can be developed, it could stop COVID-19 in its tracks."If [a vaccine] works on our little virus, it is very likely to work in the real world," said Prof John Oxford.