WEBVTT - A Human Challenge 0:00:08.245 --> 0:00:13.925 School of Humans. On August ninth, seventeen twenty one, a 0:00:14.005 --> 0:00:17.485 Scottish surgeon named Charles Maitland performed an experiment on six 0:00:17.525 --> 0:00:21.885 convicted criminals at Newgate Prison in London. There was Mary North, 0:00:22.285 --> 0:00:26.645 a self professed lunatic and shoplifter, an tampion the best 0:00:26.685 --> 0:00:30.965 pickpocket in London, John Cothrey, who had stolen three wigs, 0:00:31.325 --> 0:00:36.405 John Alcock, horse thief, Richard Evans, steeler of Persian silk, 0:00:37.245 --> 0:00:40.925 and Elizabeth Harrison, who took sixty two guineas from her mistress. 0:00:44.045 --> 0:00:46.805 All of them were relatively young, and all were condemned 0:00:46.805 --> 0:00:50.605 to banishment or death for their crimes. Using a technique 0:00:50.605 --> 0:00:54.165 he'd learned from an old woman in Constantinople, Maitland sliced 0:00:54.205 --> 0:00:57.725 opened the prisoner's arms and legs. Then he rubbed smallpox 0:00:57.765 --> 0:01:03.485 matter into the open wounds. This was called smallpox inoculation, 0:01:04.045 --> 0:01:06.525 a procedure meant to get the prisoners a bit sick 0:01:07.205 --> 0:01:09.405 in order to protect them from a more dangerous bout 0:01:09.445 --> 0:01:13.125 of smallpox. Twenty five or so a well known scientists 0:01:13.125 --> 0:01:16.365 from the Royal Society witnessed the operation, and each of 0:01:16.365 --> 0:01:19.045 the prisoners were observed for weeks after to see if 0:01:19.045 --> 0:01:23.805 they developed full blown smallpox. The experiment was a success. 0:01:24.525 --> 0:01:27.765 None of the six prisoners got very sick, and in 0:01:27.845 --> 0:01:32.685 return for their participation, they were pardoned. But there were 0:01:32.685 --> 0:01:36.125 still a remaining question. Now that they had recovered from 0:01:36.125 --> 0:01:39.485 a mild bout of smallpox, were they protected from getting 0:01:39.525 --> 0:01:43.965 the disease again. So Charles Maitland hired one of the 0:01:43.965 --> 0:01:49.525 newly pardoned criminals, nineteen year old Elizabeth Harrison. First, he 0:01:49.565 --> 0:01:52.845 had Harrison nurse a woman with severe smallpox, and when 0:01:52.845 --> 0:01:55.445 she didn't get sick, Maitland had her care for a 0:01:55.445 --> 0:01:58.925 ten year old boy with smallpox. He even had Harrison 0:01:59.005 --> 0:02:01.525 sleep in the same bed with the boy for six weeks. 0:02:02.605 --> 0:02:07.125 Considering the devastations smallpox could cause. To your mind, this 0:02:07.205 --> 0:02:12.085 was a frightening prospect. But she still didn't get sick. 0:02:14.005 --> 0:02:16.925 Today we might call what Elizabeth Harrison went through a 0:02:17.085 --> 0:02:21.405 human challenge trial. That's when a healthy person is purposefully 0:02:21.485 --> 0:02:25.205 infected so that researchers can study a disease or a 0:02:25.245 --> 0:02:29.245 treatment or prevention for that disease. Of course, to put 0:02:29.245 --> 0:02:32.765 it mildly, in Harrison's case, there are major ethical questions 0:02:32.765 --> 0:02:35.445 about her status as a prisoner sentenced to hang and 0:02:35.725 --> 0:02:38.805 the power and balance that created about whether or not 0:02:38.925 --> 0:02:43.325 she was a volunteer. But that aside, there are really 0:02:43.405 --> 0:02:47.525 good arguments today for infecting actual volunteers with specific diseases 0:02:47.965 --> 0:02:51.525 in order to more efficiently and quickly fight them. Infect 0:02:51.525 --> 0:02:55.085 a few to help many. And in this episode we're 0:02:55.085 --> 0:02:57.845 going to speak with someone who volunteered to do just that, 0:02:58.725 --> 0:03:00.485 a young British man who is one of the first 0:03:00.485 --> 0:03:06.325 people on earth to purposefully contract COVID nineteen From My 0:03:06.405 --> 0:03:09.085 Heart Radio and School of Humans. I'm Sean Revive and 0:03:09.165 --> 0:03:20.485 this is long shot. In April twenty twenty, an organization 0:03:20.525 --> 0:03:23.325 called One Day Sooner was founded in order to advocate 0:03:23.325 --> 0:03:28.525 for human challenge trials. That's the number One Day Sooner. 0:03:29.845 --> 0:03:32.125 Here's one of their ambassadors to describe what they do. 0:03:33.045 --> 0:03:37.965 One Day Sooner is a global organization that advocates for 0:03:38.365 --> 0:03:42.845 the process of human challenge trials, amongst other things. We 0:03:42.885 --> 0:03:50.565 are very concerned with now because again this was like, 0:03:50.645 --> 0:03:53.565 this is not meeting Mesteing four somebody else. So I 0:03:53.565 --> 0:03:57.965 want to be a good, you know, ambassador. That's Thomas 0:03:58.045 --> 0:04:00.925 Smiley and he is a very good ambassador for One 0:04:01.005 --> 0:04:05.125 Day Sooner. He's thirty five and he lives in Cincinnati. 0:04:05.565 --> 0:04:09.485 He works as a testing specialist. He tests medals for 0:04:09.485 --> 0:04:15.445 the aerospace industry, sometimes actual doors and propellers and seat 0:04:15.445 --> 0:04:17.805 belts and harnesses and things, and we just put them 0:04:17.805 --> 0:04:20.085 on our machines. Exposing them too was starting amount of 0:04:20.085 --> 0:04:22.765 stress and forces and heat and just do that for 0:04:22.845 --> 0:04:27.685 hours land to verify the strength and material the failure rate, 0:04:27.885 --> 0:04:30.805 things that nature, all the material properties of it. When 0:04:30.805 --> 0:04:34.525 coronavirus started spreading around the US, Thomas wanted to help, 0:04:35.845 --> 0:04:38.325 but even though he's a smart and willing person, he 0:04:38.405 --> 0:04:40.645 knew his ability to do so was kind of limited. 0:04:41.685 --> 0:04:44.485 I'm not a virologist. I'm not a person that's going 0:04:44.485 --> 0:04:48.245 to go out and create a vaccine. My best trait 0:04:48.365 --> 0:04:51.045 that I had was giving my time to science, giving 0:04:51.125 --> 0:04:54.365 my service to science, and being able to let people 0:04:54.965 --> 0:04:58.685 study the virus under the guise of giving my time 0:04:58.725 --> 0:05:02.245 to be part of a human challenge trial. One day 0:05:02.285 --> 0:05:05.725 Sooner was founded to advocate for human challenge trials order 0:05:05.725 --> 0:05:08.285 to speed up the development of the COVID nineteen vaccines 0:05:08.925 --> 0:05:13.805 and to represent volunteers who want to participate in these trials. Remarkably, 0:05:14.165 --> 0:05:16.365 they've had almost forty thousand people from more than one 0:05:16.405 --> 0:05:20.685 hundred and fifty countries sign up as potential volunteers. The 0:05:20.765 --> 0:05:24.285 idea was that clinical trials in general, but especially during 0:05:24.285 --> 0:05:29.605 a pandemic, just take too long. You need to design 0:05:29.645 --> 0:05:33.325 the studies, get approval for them, recruit thousands of people, 0:05:33.925 --> 0:05:37.325 follow them for months, if not years, and then interpret 0:05:37.405 --> 0:05:40.005 the results once enough of the participants have gotten sick 0:05:41.045 --> 0:05:44.605 and maybe after all that the trial is still a failure. 0:05:45.365 --> 0:05:48.045 But with a human challenge trial, you can give a 0:05:48.125 --> 0:05:52.005 much smaller number of volunteers a perspective vaccine, one that 0:05:52.125 --> 0:05:55.765 is believed to be safe, expose them to the coronavirus, 0:05:55.805 --> 0:05:59.245 and see if they get sick. That could theoretically take 0:05:59.285 --> 0:06:03.325 just months or even weeks. But why would anyone actually 0:06:03.365 --> 0:06:06.085 do this? Why would they signed up to be a 0:06:06.125 --> 0:06:11.765 participant risk their own health, their life? Even Here's Thomas 0:06:11.765 --> 0:06:15.245 to explain his reasoning for doing just that. When coronavirus 0:06:15.365 --> 0:06:19.845 hit the US, there was a lot of fear, There 0:06:19.925 --> 0:06:23.165 was an incredible amount of uncertainty, and there was an 0:06:23.205 --> 0:06:28.325 incredible amount of financial and life destruction that went on. 0:06:29.005 --> 0:06:32.165 We've evolved to a point where we at least understand 0:06:33.125 --> 0:06:38.045 that the greater good is necessary in some of these 0:06:38.045 --> 0:06:41.805 times when it's this dire. Thomas thought he'd be a 0:06:41.805 --> 0:06:44.285 good candidate for a trial, so he signed up with 0:06:44.285 --> 0:06:47.245 One Day Sooner as a volunteer in case any Human 0:06:47.285 --> 0:06:49.805 Challenge trials we're going to take place in the United States. 0:06:50.885 --> 0:06:54.845 I have no kids, I have no major responsibilities. Nobody 0:06:54.845 --> 0:06:57.205 really relies on me. I'm not in a position where 0:06:57.245 --> 0:07:01.725 I have a great deal to lose if something adverse 0:07:01.725 --> 0:07:03.845 were to happen to me. And when I heard that 0:07:04.245 --> 0:07:09.445 I could be the subject of the study, I didn't blank. 0:07:09.485 --> 0:07:11.685 I said, of course, this more utilitarian. This is a 0:07:11.765 --> 0:07:15.205 thing that I can do to advance the masks. This 0:07:15.285 --> 0:07:17.685 is the needs of the many outwey that needs a 0:07:17.685 --> 0:07:21.045 few kind of situation. But there have not been any 0:07:21.085 --> 0:07:24.885 trials in the US. Various Powers that Be decided it 0:07:24.885 --> 0:07:29.645 would be unethical to deliberately expose people to coronavirus, even 0:07:29.725 --> 0:07:34.085 young and healthy volunteers like Thomas. In the UK, however, 0:07:34.645 --> 0:07:38.565 medical ethics authorities approved a human challenge trial earlier this year. 0:07:39.485 --> 0:07:43.165 By then, dozens of coronavirus vaccines were being developed, and 0:07:43.285 --> 0:07:47.085 some vaccines were already being distributed worldwide, but there were 0:07:47.125 --> 0:07:50.725 still major benefits to holding a human challenge trial, and 0:07:50.845 --> 0:07:57.405 we found one of the participants. Maybe you can just 0:07:57.485 --> 0:08:00.365 quickly tell me, you know, what is your name and 0:08:00.445 --> 0:08:03.965 your age and where you were speaking to us from. Yeah, 0:08:04.045 --> 0:08:07.965 some of my names Jacob or Jake Hopkins. I'm twenty 0:08:08.045 --> 0:08:10.845 three years old and in the Midlands in the UK, 0:08:11.005 --> 0:08:13.525 so a town called Tamworth, which is just outside to 0:08:13.605 --> 0:08:16.325 see if Birmingham, so right in the middle of the country. 0:08:16.725 --> 0:08:20.205 Should I call you Jacob, Yeah, Jacob, Jake, whatever's easier, 0:08:20.285 --> 0:08:24.405 both fine for me. Jake Hopkins is probably the first 0:08:24.405 --> 0:08:27.325 person to get COVID on purpose, and he's going to 0:08:27.365 --> 0:08:30.525 tell us how that happened and why it happened. But 0:08:30.645 --> 0:08:34.365 first let me tell you a bit about Jake, or 0:08:34.405 --> 0:08:37.325 about Jake a year and a half ago, when coronavirus 0:08:37.365 --> 0:08:40.365 hit the UK. He's got daed blonde hair and a 0:08:40.365 --> 0:08:43.405 bunch of tattoos. Iadloads that have like kind of look 0:08:43.445 --> 0:08:46.765 a whale. Here it's a rose. They've got a rose 0:08:46.805 --> 0:08:49.445 piece just there. I have some like antners, kind of 0:08:49.485 --> 0:08:52.485 like kind of look floor things ants kind about closed 0:08:52.565 --> 0:08:56.685 like kind of wild flowers. So when coronavirus first hits 0:08:56.725 --> 0:09:00.765 the UK, Jake is at university studying history and living 0:09:00.765 --> 0:09:03.725 with some friends, but the school shuts down around eastern 0:09:03.845 --> 0:09:06.845 twenty twenty, and he was home to live with his parents. 0:09:07.805 --> 0:09:10.685 He gets a job at a supermarket. I just got 0:09:10.765 --> 0:09:13.125 himself a job just to work, to keep himself busy, 0:09:13.325 --> 0:09:16.365 anything really tills, stocking shelves, working deliver really like just 0:09:16.445 --> 0:09:20.125 general stuff all around the store. So, like everyone else. 0:09:20.165 --> 0:09:22.805 At the beginning of the pandemic, he's home and kind 0:09:22.805 --> 0:09:25.805 of bored. But then he reads about something called Human 0:09:25.965 --> 0:09:29.085 Challenge Trials. I remember, literally, I was just sitting at 0:09:29.085 --> 0:09:33.325 home one night scrolling through like Facebook or whatever, Instagram, whatever, 0:09:33.725 --> 0:09:35.605 and this ad popped up to be part of this 0:09:35.725 --> 0:09:38.965 clinical trial for COVID, you know, a human tryans trial. 0:09:39.445 --> 0:09:41.325 I kind of signed up instantly, really like I had 0:09:41.925 --> 0:09:44.525 really had no idea what Human Challenge trials were other 0:09:44.565 --> 0:09:46.405 than that, like that brief description that gave when you 0:09:46.485 --> 0:09:48.125 signed up, so kind of when it's a bit blind, 0:09:49.085 --> 0:09:51.805 He signs up to be a volunteer in June twenty twenty, 0:09:52.645 --> 0:09:55.925 along with thousands of other people, including me for the record. 0:09:58.005 --> 0:10:01.245 In January, the company that actually runs the trial, h Vivo, 0:10:01.565 --> 0:10:03.845 brings them in for a pre screening at their clinic 0:10:03.885 --> 0:10:07.725 in London. The idea is to make sure Jake's healthy 0:10:07.805 --> 0:10:10.925 enough to participate in a trial. If he's selected, he 0:10:10.925 --> 0:10:14.205 gets a full physical. They check his blood, check his heart, 0:10:14.605 --> 0:10:18.725 check his long capacity. They do you analysis test, which 0:10:18.765 --> 0:10:20.405 is awful because I knew that was coming up. So 0:10:20.445 --> 0:10:22.285 they tell us to drink a lot of water forehand, 0:10:22.565 --> 0:10:24.485 and I was in there. I did that and there 0:10:24.565 --> 0:10:26.365 was such a long way to like I actually I 0:10:26.405 --> 0:10:28.005 ended up going to fund of a nurse as being like, look, 0:10:28.045 --> 0:10:29.325 we need to do this now. But as I'm going 0:10:29.325 --> 0:10:31.085 to wet myself, like you know, like can we just 0:10:31.125 --> 0:10:34.805 get this bit done. February twenty twenty one is one 0:10:34.805 --> 0:10:37.525 of the authorities in the UK approved the trial, but 0:10:37.685 --> 0:10:39.845 Jake doesn't know if he'll be a part of it. 0:10:39.845 --> 0:10:42.525 It's weird how passionate iually came about his trials and 0:10:42.525 --> 0:10:44.405 like how much you learned and how desil I wanted 0:10:44.445 --> 0:10:47.125 to do them. So when they actually got a call 0:10:47.285 --> 0:10:49.285 and they're like, yeah, You're actually gonna be a part 0:10:49.325 --> 0:10:52.005 of this, I just like I was happy, weasie like 0:10:52.045 --> 0:10:53.565 I was like, oh god, I'm actually going to be 0:10:53.605 --> 0:10:54.925 part of this thing that I wanted to be a 0:10:54.965 --> 0:10:57.045 part of us so long now and then no relief 0:10:57.125 --> 0:10:58.725 is probably a bad words to mean it's COVID, but 0:10:58.725 --> 0:11:00.525 it was a bit of relief because he's like, Okay, 0:11:00.565 --> 0:11:02.205 I can actually do this now, and this his finger 0:11:02.245 --> 0:11:04.085 wanted to be part of so long. It's like happening. 0:11:06.045 --> 0:11:09.645 So it's official. He's been selected to participate in a 0:11:09.685 --> 0:11:13.405 trial in a London hospital. But first he has to 0:11:13.445 --> 0:11:15.965 isolate at home for a few days, and he also 0:11:16.005 --> 0:11:19.405 has to do some informed consent meetings where a doctor 0:11:19.485 --> 0:11:22.005 or someone else working on the trial explains again and 0:11:22.045 --> 0:11:24.925 again what the trial is and what the risks are. 0:11:25.525 --> 0:11:28.285 There's a lot of consent meetings throughout the trial they 0:11:28.405 --> 0:11:30.845 really want to make sure Jake knows what he's getting into. 0:11:31.085 --> 0:11:33.365 And then one really long one that's about two and 0:11:33.405 --> 0:11:36.125 a half hours, but basically they go through this massive, 0:11:36.765 --> 0:11:39.245 like thirty five page document which they send David to 0:11:39.325 --> 0:11:41.965 you and they read the whole thing word by word 0:11:41.965 --> 0:11:43.205 to you and you have to read it with them, 0:11:43.205 --> 0:11:46.405 and then like you to sign relevant boxes at certain 0:11:46.445 --> 0:11:48.165 points to make sure you and some that's going on 0:11:48.765 --> 0:11:51.925 as part of his self quarantine before the trial, Jake 0:11:52.005 --> 0:11:54.125 has to stop working at the supermarket for at least 0:11:54.125 --> 0:11:57.045 a month. But his bosses are super cool about it. 0:11:57.285 --> 0:11:59.685 But thankfully they're really in his Sunday again, like really 0:11:59.885 --> 0:12:01.445 happy and willing to let me do it because I 0:12:01.445 --> 0:12:04.485 think we understood that as part of a good sort 0:12:04.485 --> 0:12:07.405 of thing. I was like, actually, nervous is getting COVID 0:12:07.445 --> 0:12:09.325 because you know, if I caught it, it it eliminated from 0:12:09.325 --> 0:12:10.885 me even his trial, which like I just didn't want 0:12:10.885 --> 0:12:12.525 to happen to, Like I was that working, I was 0:12:12.525 --> 0:12:14.525 wearing like three masks at the same time and all 0:12:14.525 --> 0:12:15.845 that sort of stuff like that just going to like 0:12:15.845 --> 0:12:18.565 take everybody courtion necessary to make sure I didn't catch it. 0:12:20.445 --> 0:12:22.845 So in the final days before going to the hospital, 0:12:23.405 --> 0:12:26.685 he says this goodbyes to friends, gives a few interviews 0:12:26.685 --> 0:12:29.685 to journalists, and tries to convince his family that he's 0:12:29.845 --> 0:12:34.205 gonna be okay. Oh no, no, they were. They weren't 0:12:34.205 --> 0:12:36.245 happy about it. They were like happy for me in 0:12:36.245 --> 0:12:37.645 the sense of, like you know, they know one how 0:12:37.645 --> 0:12:39.805 bad I wanted to do it, and like thad, I 0:12:39.805 --> 0:12:41.845 was getting game. But I think they were secretly hoping 0:12:42.365 --> 0:12:44.605 either the trials didn't go ahead or I would be 0:12:44.645 --> 0:12:50.125 disqualified for some reason. The trial people don't want him 0:12:50.205 --> 0:12:53.165 using public transport too much of a risk that will 0:12:53.165 --> 0:12:57.965 contract coronavirus. So on March sixth a taxi shows up 0:12:57.965 --> 0:13:01.005 at Jake's house around five thirty in the morning. It's 0:13:01.005 --> 0:13:03.445 a long ride to London, so Jake and the driver 0:13:03.605 --> 0:13:06.605 chatted up. It turns out that the taxi driver has 0:13:06.605 --> 0:13:09.485 lost a friend and his father to COVID kind of 0:13:09.525 --> 0:13:11.485 reaffirmed the reason why I've seen it sort of thing 0:13:11.485 --> 0:13:13.245 a lot, because it's awful. Amout of lives have been 0:13:13.245 --> 0:13:14.885 lost and like these sort of things, sort of things 0:13:14.885 --> 0:13:17.365 that I can stop it. Jake has dropped off at 0:13:17.365 --> 0:13:21.245 London's Royal Free Hospital early that morning and then I 0:13:21.285 --> 0:13:23.805 was like taken up into into that quarantine ward and 0:13:23.845 --> 0:13:26.325 then put into my room and it is like you 0:13:26.365 --> 0:13:28.485 are like a secure package, like passed around sort of 0:13:28.525 --> 0:13:33.005 thing a lot, like trying to avoid any exposure. About 0:13:33.045 --> 0:13:36.605 forty others will also be going through this trial. All 0:13:36.645 --> 0:13:38.965 of them are between the ages of eighteen and thirty, 0:13:39.365 --> 0:13:44.885 and all are healthy. Since several vaccines like Maderna, fiser 0:13:44.925 --> 0:13:47.805 and Estra Zeneca have already been approved for use in 0:13:47.845 --> 0:13:51.565 the UK and countries across the world. This Human Challenge 0:13:51.605 --> 0:13:54.445 trial is focused on something else. They call it a 0:13:54.565 --> 0:13:58.005 dose optimization study. One of the goals is to learn 0:13:58.045 --> 0:14:01.045 how much or I guess, how little coronavirus has needed 0:14:01.085 --> 0:14:04.285 to infect at least half of the volunteers. They also 0:14:04.285 --> 0:14:07.245 hope to learn more about COD nineteen immunity and the 0:14:07.365 --> 0:14:13.365 diseases effects on the body. By studying infected volunteers before, during, 0:14:13.365 --> 0:14:16.485 and after their infection, they can get a more granular 0:14:16.485 --> 0:14:19.485 look at the virus and that can help with future 0:14:19.605 --> 0:14:23.285 vaccine and treatment development and just generally give insight into 0:14:23.325 --> 0:14:27.605 how the virus works. So you get into your room 0:14:27.645 --> 0:14:29.725 and by this point it's like ATM and they bring 0:14:29.725 --> 0:14:32.325 you some breakfast and then the doctor comes in and 0:14:32.365 --> 0:14:34.845 they do the same informed consent in eating V two 0:14:34.845 --> 0:14:36.485 hour one, but I did a zoom. They do that 0:14:36.565 --> 0:14:39.445 again if you but in person, and again it's just 0:14:39.685 --> 0:14:41.925 again tick up the boxes, you know, make sure you're in. 0:14:41.965 --> 0:14:45.125 Somebody getting in four and then you have your first 0:14:45.165 --> 0:14:47.125 a lot of texts and that is it. The doors 0:14:47.125 --> 0:14:49.565 are short and that's it. You don't leave. And his 0:14:49.685 --> 0:14:53.605 new home isn't bad. It's got a TV, a PlayStation, 0:14:54.125 --> 0:14:57.405 a decent amount of space, his own bathroom and shower. 0:14:58.125 --> 0:15:01.165 The floors and walls are blue like a typical hospital room. 0:15:01.245 --> 0:15:03.405 It's got an anti chamber with an airlock type thing 0:15:03.525 --> 0:15:06.045 where nurses get into their respirators and get hours before 0:15:06.085 --> 0:15:09.125 coming in. And then luckily you have huge windows, like 0:15:09.165 --> 0:15:11.685 the main the whole wall is almost pretty much all window. 0:15:11.845 --> 0:15:13.925 You get a great view across London, like I could 0:15:13.925 --> 0:15:16.765 see the London I and all that from right from 0:15:16.765 --> 0:15:19.405 my room, which a really nice thing to have. At 0:15:19.405 --> 0:15:21.885 around six am each day, they take his blood in 0:15:21.885 --> 0:15:24.805 a nasal swam and the rest of the day was 0:15:24.845 --> 0:15:29.885 filled with more tests. On day three they do the inoculation. 0:15:30.885 --> 0:15:33.965 That's when they infect Jake with coronavirus. It wasn't until 0:15:34.005 --> 0:15:37.925 about half eleven in the morning where like one of 0:15:37.925 --> 0:15:40.725 the nurses came in and was like, okay, so we're 0:15:40.765 --> 0:15:42.965 going to inaculate you in about an hour and now 0:15:43.165 --> 0:15:44.885 for the un last chance now to kind of like 0:15:44.925 --> 0:15:46.485 buck out, like are you sure you want to do 0:15:46.525 --> 0:15:47.845 this sort of thing like that, And I was like yeah, 0:15:47.885 --> 0:15:50.125 like I still want to go ahead. So the nurse 0:15:50.165 --> 0:15:53.165 hands Jake a big pair of goggles and says see 0:15:53.165 --> 0:15:56.205 you in an hour. The hour between from like half 0:15:56.245 --> 0:15:58.045 eleven to about half twelve when it came in, was 0:15:58.085 --> 0:16:01.645 like just nerves and excitement and just like I was 0:16:01.685 --> 0:16:03.885 calling Cohen being like I mean, I mean, like it's 0:16:03.885 --> 0:16:06.005 going ahead, like you know, like from my friend and stuff. 0:16:06.085 --> 0:16:08.525 Then like it was probably like the longest hour of 0:16:08.525 --> 0:16:13.045 my life. Around noon, the nurse and other staff come 0:16:13.045 --> 0:16:16.925 back into Jake's room. The experience of getting and COVID 0:16:17.045 --> 0:16:20.965 is the most surreal thing in the world. The doors 0:16:21.005 --> 0:16:23.525 open and like there's like five people in these big hoods, 0:16:23.725 --> 0:16:26.885 you know, respirator things like like a horde almost walking 0:16:26.925 --> 0:16:29.845 towards you, sort of thing like that maybe they're wheeling 0:16:29.885 --> 0:16:32.405 behind him. This like its trolley like this big red, 0:16:32.565 --> 0:16:35.285 big red box in it that you know, with by 0:16:35.325 --> 0:16:38.645 a hazard all over it, which contains the coronavirus. The 0:16:38.765 --> 0:16:42.365 virus solution comes in a chilled plastic bag kind of 0:16:42.405 --> 0:16:45.005 like a blood beg and didn't ask you to lie 0:16:45.325 --> 0:16:47.605 on your back with your head hanging out edgy bed, 0:16:47.685 --> 0:16:50.445 which you do, and then obvious people are standing over 0:16:50.565 --> 0:16:53.005 you and it's like it's intimidating. It's like Jesus crying, 0:16:53.085 --> 0:16:56.805 like this is like intense, and they get this huge 0:16:56.805 --> 0:16:58.565 pet it's like almost like a turkey basis, Like it's 0:16:58.565 --> 0:17:01.165 a massive pet they have. They pick it up and 0:17:01.485 --> 0:17:03.565 they get the solution side, and then like they start 0:17:03.645 --> 0:17:06.565 counting down. So they count down from twenty, which adds 0:17:06.645 --> 0:17:10.245 to the suspense really, and then they kind of like 0:17:10.325 --> 0:17:12.005 drop out in each nostrils. So they kind of drop 0:17:12.045 --> 0:17:14.005 it around the outside of the one nostril and then 0:17:14.045 --> 0:17:16.565 did the other, and then their way and they count 0:17:16.645 --> 0:17:19.725 not from twenty again and then they repeat. It's a 0:17:19.805 --> 0:17:22.965 long count. It really builds up the tension, and like 0:17:23.045 --> 0:17:25.085 you can feel the solution going right back to the 0:17:25.165 --> 0:17:28.405 nostril and mean like down your throape ethically as well. 0:17:28.525 --> 0:17:30.605 And then was it's done. You have to lay there 0:17:30.645 --> 0:17:33.245 for ten minutes, your head hanging back and they're just there. 0:17:33.285 --> 0:17:35.605 They're just talking amongst them. Sounds really like checking much 0:17:35.805 --> 0:17:37.845 they did over the prostigures, right like kind of just 0:17:37.965 --> 0:17:41.085 laying there in silence, like just thinking, oh my god, 0:17:41.125 --> 0:17:43.805 I've just been infected with coronavirus, and like it kind 0:17:43.805 --> 0:17:47.845 of obviously kind of hits in. At that point. They 0:17:47.885 --> 0:17:51.005 put a clip on Jake's nose like something a beginning 0:17:51.045 --> 0:17:53.485 swimmer might use, and he has to wear it for 0:17:53.485 --> 0:17:58.045 twenty minutes, so nothing drops out. So Jake's sitting there 0:17:58.085 --> 0:18:01.005 in his room with a clip around his nose, and 0:18:01.045 --> 0:18:04.525 then everyone realizes it's a pretty big moment because it 0:18:04.685 --> 0:18:06.885 was the world's first. Though kind of like excited about 0:18:06.885 --> 0:18:08.885 it as I was kind of like a lot of 0:18:08.885 --> 0:18:11.605 like high fives, like whoa, you just got COVID, like 0:18:11.605 --> 0:18:14.565 like you know, really excited like that, and then made 0:18:14.605 --> 0:18:17.205 meeve and like and then that's it. You kind of 0:18:17.245 --> 0:18:22.165 like infected with coronavirus. And at that point you're going 0:18:22.245 --> 0:18:25.245 nowhere for at least two weeks because you can't leave 0:18:25.285 --> 0:18:30.925 a quarantine unit until like you're obviously testing negative. The 0:18:30.965 --> 0:18:33.525 next few days are filled with more tests, nurses and 0:18:33.605 --> 0:18:36.565 doctors checking his blood and taking nasal swabs, that kind 0:18:36.565 --> 0:18:41.725 of thing. The interaculation was on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and 0:18:41.805 --> 0:18:46.445 most of Thursday. Jake feels fine. Since one of the 0:18:46.445 --> 0:18:48.805 points of the study is to see how little coronavirus 0:18:48.805 --> 0:18:51.965 one needs to get infected, Jake starts wondering if he 0:18:52.005 --> 0:18:55.045 didn't get enough virus, if he didn't get infected at all. 0:18:56.445 --> 0:18:59.605 But on Thursday, after his third nasal swab of the day, 0:19:00.445 --> 0:19:03.565 he gets news being the first person ever and part 0:19:03.565 --> 0:19:05.565 of the first group. I was getting the smallest, like 0:19:05.645 --> 0:19:08.165 in the most diluted dose they have, so like I 0:19:08.205 --> 0:19:10.845 wasn't sure whether'll even catch an affection because because they 0:19:10.925 --> 0:19:13.605 dropped them and I didn't mean it was actually gonna take. Yeah, 0:19:13.645 --> 0:19:15.845 And they came to my room and like they were like, 0:19:15.925 --> 0:19:18.845 so you've tested positive two times in a row now 0:19:18.965 --> 0:19:22.565 and we're going to start you on rumdzivia. Rumdzervie is 0:19:22.565 --> 0:19:26.085 a drug originally developed to treat heppatatis C, which became 0:19:26.125 --> 0:19:29.925 a part of some treatment programs for COVID nineteen. But 0:19:30.045 --> 0:19:32.365 Jake still didn't feel sick when they started the treatment. 0:19:33.205 --> 0:19:37.165 Even though I knew I was technically positive, I didn't 0:19:37.205 --> 0:19:40.005 feel any side effects of it, Like I still felt fine. 0:19:40.765 --> 0:19:44.485 On Thursday night, he starts feeling cold. At first he 0:19:44.525 --> 0:19:47.805 thinks the air conditioning is just too strong. Then he 0:19:47.845 --> 0:19:51.645 wakes up feeling a lot colder. And I woke up 0:19:51.845 --> 0:19:54.565 ten times colder. I had full body eggs. I felt 0:19:54.605 --> 0:19:58.685 really run down, rough over, like really high temperature, but 0:19:58.765 --> 0:20:01.885 like feeling really cold at general thieverish stuff. And then 0:20:01.885 --> 0:20:05.765 he gets even sicker because the mine was kind of 0:20:05.805 --> 0:20:09.485 like abnormal and a bit too wrong, and my temperature 0:20:09.485 --> 0:20:12.005 was too high and my vestory or it was too high, 0:20:12.045 --> 0:20:15.165 and they actually moved me to hourly vitals. It's like 0:20:15.205 --> 0:20:17.965 they're coming in every hour to do more of just 0:20:18.005 --> 0:20:19.965 to keep monet for me, because like I was a 0:20:20.005 --> 0:20:23.365 bit like upper charts. The symptoms, just the things smiling. 0:20:23.405 --> 0:20:25.405 The symptoms just came on like a cliff dive, Like 0:20:25.445 --> 0:20:27.925 I went from having like nothing a thing fine to 0:20:28.045 --> 0:20:32.005 literally like brick wall hitting me, like really ill. They're 0:20:32.085 --> 0:20:34.885 less about two days and then it went away to quick, 0:20:35.005 --> 0:20:36.685 like you know, I went to bed on Saturday night 0:20:36.725 --> 0:20:38.885 feeling really rough, and I woke up the Sunday it 0:20:38.965 --> 0:20:42.045 was like a healed almost straight away, like you know, 0:20:42.045 --> 0:20:45.685 I woke up feeling fine as it was before. One 0:20:45.685 --> 0:20:49.205 of his daily activities is a smell test, basically a 0:20:49.285 --> 0:20:51.845 scratch and sniff book filled with pictures of things that 0:20:51.885 --> 0:20:56.765 you scratch and smell, like an onion or wood or gasoline. 0:20:58.245 --> 0:21:01.805 But then a week after his first COVID symptoms, he 0:21:01.885 --> 0:21:04.725 loses his sense of smell. At this point, I've been 0:21:04.885 --> 0:21:06.965 working to the books for like over a week by 0:21:07.045 --> 0:21:09.085 at this point, you know, I knew the answer before 0:21:09.085 --> 0:21:10.925 I even synapped it, because like it was the same 0:21:10.965 --> 0:21:13.645 books every time, and that's what really actually let me 0:21:13.765 --> 0:21:15.765 name it. My son was gone, because like I've scrapped it, 0:21:16.045 --> 0:21:17.765 but I'll already know why it is, and I'm just 0:21:17.885 --> 0:21:21.045 not on it, and that'd be just nothing there at all, 0:21:21.365 --> 0:21:25.245 like not a thing. His smell doesn't come back until 0:21:25.285 --> 0:21:33.125 about five days later. Human challenge trials have been used 0:21:33.125 --> 0:21:37.965 a lot in the past, some ethical, some not. Edward 0:21:38.085 --> 0:21:42.005 Jenner created the first ever vaccine for smallpox and tested 0:21:42.045 --> 0:21:46.085 it on his gardener's eight year old son. He deliberately 0:21:46.085 --> 0:21:49.885 exposed the boy to smallpox, but he didn't get sick. 0:21:51.565 --> 0:21:54.165 There have also been challenged trials for flu throughout the 0:21:54.205 --> 0:21:57.605 past eighty years, and as recently as the late two thousands, 0:21:59.085 --> 0:22:02.365 and there have been challenge trials for cholera, malaria, typhoid, 0:22:02.445 --> 0:22:07.525 and Danae fever. It's not a new thing. Among the 0:22:07.605 --> 0:22:11.405 arguments against human challenge trials is that they expose healthy 0:22:11.405 --> 0:22:17.205 people to unacceptably high risks. But in normal life, non 0:22:17.285 --> 0:22:20.805