But running large-scale clinical trialsof potential vaccines against a completely new disease at speed is complex, scientists say. Vaccine trials work by randomly dividing people into a treatment group and a control group, with the treatment group getting the experimental trial vaccine and the control group getting a placebo. The hope is that infections within the control group will be higher, showing the trial vaccine is protecting the other group. A similar problem emerged when scientists were seeking to test potential new vaccines against Ebola during the vast 2014 outbreak in West Africa. They will also consider looking abroad if domestic disease rates fall too far, he said.

Source: Dhaka Tribune June 01, 2020 06:00 UTC