Members of the Rapid Deployment Vaccine Collaborative (RaDVaC) describe themselves as a group of citizen scientists. They say the pandemic is causing millions to suffer, and this motivates them to take action. This includes the scientists self-testing with unproven vaccine according to Scientific American. That journal believes this raises important legal and ethical questions.
Not So, Say RaDVaC Scientists Self-Testing with Unproven Vaccine
The Rapid Deployment Vaccine Collaborative website makes a strong case for the scientists’ position. They say the formal sector comprising public health, commercial, and regulatory infrastructure has thus far failed to deliver a vaccine. And therefore extraordinary steps are necessary to protect humanity from the virus.
Moreover, this is not a case of scientists self-testing with unproven vaccine irresponsibly, they say. They have developed, produced, and are self-administering an intra-nasal vaccine based on their review of decades of research. This literature provides them with proven vaccine designs. And they are releasing this information freely as ‘a necessary act of compassion’ without filing patents or intellectual property protection either.
Full Disclosure of What to Do to Make the Vaccine
Scientific American says there is nothing illegal about this in principle. That’s because existing laws do not envisage self-experimentation’. Moreover, the RaDVaC project is not using federal funding. However, they are using a Harvard laboratory and this might conflict with that institution’s rules.
Meanwhile, the scientists self-testing with unproven vaccine are continuing with their mission. The worst side-effects across several months are a couple of stuffy noses among their twenty-person group. None the less, Scientific American is appealing to the breakaway scientists to return to the mainstream environment.
There are at least two sides to this debate. Scientific American is technically correct the test should be a ‘rigorously designed study’. Especially because the scientists say their RaDVaC vaccine is potentially beneficial for humanity. If on the other hand the self-testing demonstrated those benefits, then we might be inclined to applaud them loudly.
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Preview Image: RaDVaC Team in Laboratory
