Lawmakers urge FDA to expedite COVID-19 vaccine testing, consider challenge trials

Thirty five members of the House of Representatives have signed a letter urging FDA to adopt expedited methods of testing COVID-19 vaccine candidates, including considering challenge trials of healthy individuals who are deliberately infected with the virus.

The letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar and FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn acknowledges that rapid testing and approval could carry risks and says these are justified by the urgent need for a vaccine. “We write to assure you that Congress understands that a more risk-tolerant development process is likely appropriate in the case of a COVID-19 vaccine.”...