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Scientists tried to give people COVID — and failed

Researchers deliberately infect participants with SARS-CoV-2 in ‘challenge’ trials — but high levels of immunity complicate efforts to test vaccines and treatments.
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  1. Ewen Callaway
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An attending physician listens to the breathing of a patient who is recovering after admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) in the coronavirus (COVID-19) patient nursing department of The HMC Westeinde Hospital in The Hague on April 4, 2020.

A physician tends to a patient who is recovering from COVID-19. Credit: Remko de Waal/AFP via Getty

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When Paul Zimmer-Harwood volunteered to be intentionally infected with SARS-CoV-2, he wasn’t sure what to expect. He was ready for a repeat of his first brush with COVID-19, through a naturally acquired infection that gave him influenza-like symptoms. But he hoped his immunity would help him feel well enough to use the indoor bicycle trainer that he had brought into quarantine.

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Nature 629, 269-270 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01284-1

References

  1. Jackson, S. et al. Lancet Microbe https://doi.org/10.1016/S2666-5247(24)00025-9 (2024).

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  2. Killingley, B. et al. Nature Med. 28, 1031–1041 (2022).

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