Covid-19 Vaccine Trials Are Going ‘Unblind’

A difficult ethical dilemma is causing researchers to significantly change the scientific protocol, and not everyone is happy

Photo: Chokniti Khongchum/Pexels

Double-blind

There’s a very strict and specific way of conducting a clinical vaccine trial:

• Phase 1 involves a few dozens of participants and mainly aims to find initial indications of efficiency and safety with different doses.
• Phase 2 expends to several hundreds of participants and further tests the immune system’s reactions and possible side effects while establishing the optimal dosage.
• Phase 3 is the big and decisive part of the trial. With hundreds of thousands of volunteers, the researchers gather as much accurate data as possible by comparing two groups known as the vaccinated arm and the placebo arm.

The use of a placebo control group is vital. Researchers observe the two groups and could then compare them. If significantly more people from the placebo group get sick, then the conclusion is that the vaccine is effective.

Throughout the years a method of conducting a placebo-control trial evolved, the randomized double-blind. That means both the participant and the researcher do not know which…