LONDON : UK researchers are preparing to infect healthy young volunteers with the virus that causes COVID-19, becoming the first to announce plans to use the controversial technique to study the disease and potentially speed up development of a vaccine that could help end the pandemic.
This type of research, known as a human challenge study, is used infrequently because some consider the risk involved in infecting otherwise healthy individuals to be unethical. But researchers racing to combat COVID-19 say that risk is warranted because such studies have the potential to quickly identify the most effective vaccines and help control a disease that has killed more than 1.1 million people worldwide.
“Deliberately infecting volunteers with a known human pathogen is never undertaken lightly,″ said Professor Peter Openshaw, co-investigator on the study. “However, such studies are enormously informative about a disease, even one so well studied as COVID-19.”
Human challenge studies have been previously used to develop vaccines for diseases including typhoid, cholera and malaria.
Imperial College London said Tuesday that the study, involving volunteers aged 18 to 30, would be conducted in partnership with the government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and hVIVO, a company that has experience conducting challenge studies. The government plans to invest 33.6 million pounds ($43.4 million) in the research.
Governments around the world are funding efforts to develop a vaccine in hopes of ending the pandemic that has pummeled the international economy, shutting businesses and putting millions of people out of work. Forty-six potential vaccines are already in human testing, with 11 of them in late-stage trials — several expected to report results later this year or in early 2021.
The Imperial College partnership expects to begin work in January, with results expected by May. Before any research begins, the study must be approved by ethics committees and regulators.
While one or more vaccines are likely to be approved before then, the study will still be relevant because the world may need multiple vaccines to adequately protect different groups within the population, as well as treatments for those who continue to get sick, said Dr. Michael Jacobs, a consultant in infectious diseases at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust who will take part in the research.
“I don’t think many people think that what we’re doing as scientists is searching for a silver bullet,” Jacobs said. “We’re going to need a whole raft of interventions in order to control this pandemic.”
Tens of thousands of volunteers around the world have already signed up to participate in more traditional trials of COVID-19 vaccines. Critics of challenge studies question the need to expose healthy people to the virus when the disease remains widespread and vaccine development is moving quickly.
In the first phase of the UK challenge study, researchers will expose 90 paid volunteers to the virus using nasal drops in an effort to determine the smallest level of exposure needed to cause COVID-19. Ultimately, the same model will be used to test the effectiveness of potential vaccines by exposing volunteers to the virus after they’ve received one of the candidate vaccines.
The research will be conducted at the Royal Free Hospital in London, which has a specially designed area to contain the disease. Volunteers will be monitored for at least a year to ensure they don’t suffer any long-term effects.
Kate Bingham, chair of the government’s Vaccine Taskforce, which is tasked with promoting development of a vaccine for COVID-19, said the project will improve understanding of the virus and help scientists make decisions about research.
“There is much we can learn in terms of immunity, the length of vaccine protection and reinfection,” she said in a statement.
Challenge studies are typically used to test vaccines against mild infections to avoid exposing volunteers to a serious illness if the vaccine doesn’t work. While the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms in most people and seems to be especially mild in young, healthy individuals, the long-term effects of the disease aren’t well understood, and there have been reports of lingering problems in the heart and other organs even in those who don’t ever feel sick.
In the US, the National Institutes of Health has downplayed the need for challenge studies given the speed with which vaccines are being developed, but it has taken preliminary steps to prepare for such research in case the approach eventually is required. Those steps include examining the ethics of a challenge study, and funding research to create lab-grown virus strains that potentially could be used.
But even if they are needed, “human challenge trials would not replace Phase 3 trials” of COVID-19 vaccines, according to a September statement from NIH that called the standard, rigorous studies its priority.
In July, the NIH’s vaccine working group published a paper in The New England Journal of Medicine pointing out the risks of doing a challenge study with a virus that so far has no good treatment and is wildly unpredictable, occasionally killing even some young, otherwise healthy people.
But 1Day Sooner, which advocates for COVID-19 challenge trial volunteers, praised the decision and called on the government to build a testing center.
“We are glad the UK government is embracing the altruism of the thousands of our British volunteers who want these studies,” the group said in a statement. “Challenge trials will be key to making multiple safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines available for the whole world, including those in low-income countries bearing the brunt of this pandemic.”
Danica Marcos, 22, a recent university graduate now doing volunteer work with homeless people, is hoping to take part.
“So many people (are) struggling right now, and I want this pandemic to be over,” she told The Associated Press. “Every day that goes on, more cases are going on, more people are dying. And if this vaccine trial could mean that this period of trauma for the whole world will be over sooner, I want to help. I want to be a part of that.”
UK to infect healthy volunteers in vaccine research trial
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UK to infect healthy volunteers in vaccine research trial
- Human challenge studies have been previously used to develop vaccines for diseases including typhoid, cholera and malaria
Russia ‘guilty’ over downed Azerbaijan plane: Azeri president
- An Azerbaijan Airlines jet crash-landed in Kazakhstan on Dec. 25, killing 38 of the 67 people on board
- Moscow has admitted its air defenses were operational in the area at the time, which it said was under attack from Ukrainian drones
BAKU: Azerbaijan’s president said on Monday that Russia was “guilty” over the downing of an airline last month that Baku says was shot by Russian air defenses.
An Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 jet crash-landed in Kazakhstan on December 25, killing 38 of the 67 people on board, after being diverted from a scheduled landing in the southern Russian city of Grozny.
Moscow has admitted its air defenses were operational in the area at the time, which it said was under attack from Ukrainian drones.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologized that the “incident” occurred in his country’s air space but has not responded to claims the plane was hit by Russian weapons.
“The guilt for the death of Azerbaijani citizens lies with representatives of the Russian Federation,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Monday, according to a statement published by his office.
Aliyev was meeting surviving crew and family members of crew who died in the incident.
The Azerbaijani leader, who is close to Putin, has issued rare fierce criticism of Moscow over the crash, demanding an apology, admission of guilt and the punishment of those found responsible for the “criminal” shooting of the plane.
On Monday he said Russia’s “concealment” of the causes and “delusional versions” being put forward “cause us justifiable anger.”
Initial statements by Russia’s air transport agency that the plane had been forced to divert after a bird strike have triggered fury in Baku.
Aliyev said air defense measures for Grozny – the capital of Russia’s southern Chechnya region, where the plane was set to land – were only announced after the plane had been “shot from the ground.”
“If there was a danger to Russian airspace, then the captain of the plane should have been informed straight away,” Aliyev said.
He also questioned why the plane was sent hundreds of kilometers (miles) across the Caspian Sea to the Kazakh city of Aktau for an emergency landing.
“Why it was directed to Aktau, we have no information,” Aliyev said.
Azerbaijan says preliminary results of its investigation show the plane was hit accidentally by a Russian air defense missile.
Russia has opened its own criminal probe but has not said whether it agrees with Baku’s assessment.
The plane’s black boxes have been sent to Brazil for analysis.
Hundreds of Afghans seeking US resettlement arrive in Philippines for visa processing
- Group of around 300 Afghan nationals, comprising mostly children, arrived from Kabul on Monday
- Under Philippines’ rules, they can stay in the country for no more than 59 days
MANILA: Hundreds of Afghan nationals arrived in the Philippines on Monday to process special immigrant visas for their resettlement in the US, as part of an agreement between Manila and Washington.
The Philippines agreed last July to temporarily host a US visa-processing center for a limited number of Afghan nationals who had worked for American forces in Afghanistan and were left behind during their chaotic withdrawal from the country in 2021.
A group of about 300 Afghan nationals arrived from Kabul on Monday and were issued “the appropriate Philippine entry visa,” said Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Teresita Daza.
“All applicants completed extensive security vetting by Philippine national security agencies,” Daza added
“As part of its agreement with the Philippines, the US government is supporting all necessary services for those SIV applicants temporarily in the Philippines, including food, housing, medical care, security and transportation to complete visa processing.”
The applicants were also vetted by US security agencies and had undergone medical screening prior to their arrival.
The group of Afghans will stay at a billet facility operated by the US State Department’s Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts and are only permitted to leave for their embassy consular interviews
Under the Philippines’ rules, they can stay in the country for no longer than 59 days.
The Philippines was chosen as a location for the visa processing as the US Embassy in Manila is “one of the largest” and “has the capacity to process them efficiently and smoothly without having to sacrifice the normal operations,” a Philippine official said.
The Afghan nationals who are processing their visas in the Philippines comprised mostly children and “will be the only group” under the agreement between Manila and Washington, a US State Department official told Arab News, speaking on condition of anonymity.
More than 160,000 Afghans sought resettlement when the Taliban took over Afghanistan as international forces withdrew from the country in 2021 — two decades after the US invaded it.
Thousands of others are in third countries awaiting visa processing. Many of them had worked for the US government.
South Korea’s Yoon set to avoid arrest by warrant deadline
- Anti-graft investigators sought an extension to the warrant that expires at the end of Monday
- The anti-graft officials have sought more time and help because of the difficulties they have faced
SEOUL: Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared set to evade arrest ahead of a Monday night deadline after anti-graft investigators asked for more time to enforce a warrant.
The former star prosecutor has defiantly refused questioning three times over a bungled martial law decree last month and remained holed up in his residence surrounded by hundreds of guards preventing his arrest.
Anti-graft investigators sought an extension to the warrant that expires at the end of Monday (1500 GMT) and asked for support from the police, which said the force would help and may arrest anyone shielding Yoon.
“The validity of the warrant expires today. We plan to request an extension from the court today,” said CIO deputy director Lee Jae-seung, whose authority has been refuted by Yoon’s lawyers.
The request was officially filed on Monday evening and an extension can be granted all the way up to the midnight deadline. If the warrant expires, investigators can apply for another one.
The anti-graft officials have sought more time and help because of the difficulties they have faced, including being met by hundreds of security forces when they entered Yoon’s presidential compound on Friday.
“We will consider the option of arresting any personnel from the Presidential Security Service during the execution of the second warrant,” a police official said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The country’s opposition Democratic Party has also called for the dissolution of the security service protecting the impeached president.
If authorities detain Yoon, who has already been suspended from duty by lawmakers, he will become the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested.
But they would only have 48 hours to either request another arrest warrant, in order to keep him in detention, or be forced to release him.
While officials have been unable to get to Yoon, the joint investigation team has gone after top military officials behind the martial law plan.
The prosecution’s martial law special investigation unit on Monday indicted Defense Intelligence Commander Moon Sang-ho on charges of playing an integral role in an insurrection and abuse of power.
Yoon would face prison or, at worst, the death penalty if convicted for insurrection over briefly suspending civilian rule and plunging South Korea into its worst political crisis in decades.
But both he and his supporters have remained defiant.
“We will protect the Presidential Security Service till midnight,” said Kim Soo-yong, 62, one of the protest organizers.
“If they get another warrant, we will come again.”
Early Monday dozens of Yoon’s lawmakers from the People Power Party turned up in front of his presidential residence and police blocked roads.
“I’ve been here longer than the CIO now. It doesn’t make sense why they can’t do it. They need to arrest him immediately,” said anti-Yoon protest organizer Kim Ah-young, in her 30s.
The initial warrant was issued on the grounds that Yoon has refused to emerge for questioning over his martial law decree.
His lawyers have repeatedly said the warrant is “unlawful” and “illegal,” pledging to take further legal action against it.
The vibrant East Asian democracy will find itself in uncharted territory either way — its sitting president will have been arrested, or he would have evaded court-ordered detention.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Seoul early Monday, and did not meet Yoon but held a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul.
He praised Seoul’s democratic resilience but his focus was shifted away from domestic politics when North Korea fired what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile into the sea as he met Cho.
South Korea’s Constitutional Court has slated January 14 for the start of Yoon’s impeachment trial, which if he does not attend would continue in his absence.
A prosecutors’ report for his former defense minister seen by AFP Sunday showed Yoon ignored the objections of key cabinet ministers before his failed martial law bid, evidence the court may take into account.
South Korea’s Constitutional Court has up to 180 days to determine whether to dismiss Yoon as president or restore his powers.
Former presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Park Geun-hye never appeared for their impeachment trials.
Malaysia’s jailed ex-PM Najib wins appeal to seek home detention for corruption sentence
- Najib set up the 1MDB development fund shortly after he took office in 2009.
- Investigators allege at least $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by Najib’s associates through layers of bank accounts in the United States and other countries
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s imprisoned former Prime Minister Najib Razak on Monday won an appeal to pursue his bid to serve his remaining corruption sentence under house arrest.
In an application in April last year, Najib said he had clear information that then-King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah issued an addendum order allowing him to finish his sentence under house arrest. Najib claimed the addendum was issued during a pardons board meeting on Jan. 29 last year chaired by Sultan Abdullah that also cut his 12-year jail sentence by half and sharply reduced a fine. But the High Court tossed out his bid three months later.
The Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling on Monday, ordered the High Court to hear the merits of the case. The decision came after Najib’s lawyer produced a letter from a Pahang state palace official confirming that then-Sultan Abdullah had issued the addendum order.
“We are happy that finally Najib has got a win,” his lawyer Mohamad Shafee Abdullah said. “He is very happy and very relieved that finally they recognized some element of injustice that has been placed against him.”
The lawyer said Najib gave a thumbs-up in court when the ruling was read.
He said it was “criminal” for the government to conceal the addendum order. Shafee noted that a new High Court judge will now hear the case.
In his application, Najib accused the pardons board, home minister, attorney-general and four others of concealing the sultan’s order “in bad faith.” Sultan Abdullah hails from Najib’s hometown in Pahang. He ended his five-year reign on Jan. 30 last year under Malaysia’s unique rotating monarchy system. A new king took office a day later.
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has said he had no knowledge of such an order since he wasn’t a member of the pardons board. The others named in Najib’s application have not made any public comments.
Najib, 71, served less than two years of his sentence before it was commuted by the pardons board. His sentence is now due to end on Aug. 23, 2028. He was charged and found guilty in a corruption case linked to the multibillion-dollar looting of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
The pardons board didn’t give any reason for its decision and wasn’t required to explain. But the move has prompted a public outcry over the appearance that Najib was being given special privileges compared to other prisoners.
Najib set up the 1MDB development fund shortly after he took office in 2009. Investigators allege at least $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by Najib’s associates through layers of bank accounts in the United States and other countries, financed Hollywood films and extravagant purchases that included hotels, a luxury yacht, art and jewelry. More than $700 million landed in Najib’s bank accounts.
Najib is still fighting graft charges in the main trial linking him directly to the scandal.
Death toll from the German Christmas market attack rises to 6
- A woman succumbed to her injuries, prosecutors said Monday
- More than 200 people were injured in the Dec. 20 attack
BERLIN: The death toll in the attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg last month has risen to six as a woman succumbed to her injuries, prosecutors said Monday.
Prosecutors in Naumburg said the 52-year-old woman died in a hospital, German news agency dpa reported. Authorities have said that the others who died were four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75, and a 9-year-old boy.
More than 200 people were injured in the Dec. 20 attack.
Authorities have identified the suspect, who was arrested immediately after he drove a rented car through the crowded market early on a Friday evening, as a Saudi doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006 and had received permanent residency.
They have said he does not fit the usual profile of perpetrators of extremist attacks. The man described himself as an ex-Muslim who was highly critical of Islam, and on social media expressed support for the far-right.
