ArticlePloS one2022
Characterizing altruistic motivation in potential volunteers for SARS-CoV-2 challenge trials.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Choosing Not to Eat Meat: What Characterizes Independently Vegetarian Children?Developmental science · 2026Article
- When Is Social Value Proportionate to Research Risks?Bioethics · 2026Article
- Motivations and experiences in controlled human infection trials vs. phase I clinical trials: a survey study.BMC medical ethics · 2026Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthy volunteer motivations: a mixed-methods study of participants in plague vaccine trials in the UK and Uganda.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Exploring the participant experience in controlled human infection model (CHIM) trials: A modified grounded theory study.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- Ethical acceptability of human challenge trials: Consultation with the US public and with research personnel.PloS one · 2024Article
- These volunteers want to be infected with disease to aid research - will their altruism help?Nature · 2023Article
- Volunteering for Infection: Participant Perspectives on a Hepatitis C Virus Controlled Human Infection Model.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2023Article
- Better recognition for research participants: what society should learn from covid-19.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2023Article
- Assessing public perception of a sand fly biting study on the pathway to a controlled human infection model for cutaneous leishmaniasis.Research involvement and engagement · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In human challenge trials (HCTs), volunteers are deliberately infected with an infectious agent. Such trials can be used to accelerate vaccine development and answer important scientific questions. Starting early in the COVID-19 pandemic, ethical concerns were raised about using HCTs to accelerate development and approval of a vaccine. Some of those concerns pertained to potential exploitation of and/or lack of truly informed consent from volunteers. Specific areas of concern arose around individuals who may be unusually risk-seeking or too economically vulnerable to refuse the payments these trials provide, as opposed to being motivated primarily by altruistic goals. This pre-registered study is the first large-scale survey to characterize people who, early in the pandemic, expressed interest and intention to volunteer to participate in COVID-19 HCTs. We found that individuals expressing interest in SARS-CoV-2 HCTs exhibit consistently altruistic motivations without any special indication of poor risk perception or economic vulnerability. In finding that, early in the pandemic, COVID-19 HCTs were able to attract volunteers whose values align with the nature of these trials, and who are not unusually vulnerable to exploitation, this study may allay some ethical concerns about the volunteers interested in participating in such trials.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.