Are You Willing to Get Paid to Get Coronavirus?

The global race to develop the Covid-19 vaccine is far from over. Researchers and pharmaceutical companies are working tirelessly to find a vaccine that could stop the spread of the disease.

More than 70% of the groups' Covid-19 vaccine research efforts are from industrial or private companies. They are looking to speed up the deployment of the vaccine to have it ready in 18 months. Fast forward to one year later; several promising vaccines are on the brink of getting approved and ready to be rolled out.

In the wake of vaccine hesitancy with the numbers of infected patients constantly increasing, many have proposed a solution to help create a herd immunity: Have volunteers get paid to get Coronavirus.

It's nothing new. This method has been ethically performed with other diseases such as Malaria. Despite having risks involved, there is still a growing support for Covid-19 vaccine human trials with tens of thousands of people indicating interests to be part of the study.

What Are the Phases of a Covid-19 Vaccine?

To make it to human clinical trials, there are five paths to a successful Covid-19 vaccine. Phase I trials seek to test the vaccine's safety, determine dosages, and identify the potential side effects on fewer than a hundred people.

Phase 2 requires extensive safety tests. Larger groups that could go up to hundreds will get tested on the vaccine.

Then, there's Phase 3, where fewer vaccines would have made it this far. Thousands of people will be evaluated to confirm the effectiveness and tested for side effects on international trials.

If Phase 3 passes, the vaccines will be administered to the population for general use.

Unlike drugs, which are tested on people who already have a particular illness, vaccines have to be tested on healthy people exposed to the disease. This is done by giving an experimental vaccine to the public where an infection is circulating, then monitoring them for an extended period. The vaccine is considered a success when volunteers avoid getting infected.

Why Are Covid-19 Vaccine Human Trials So Important?

It's the only way to see if the vaccine works.

One way to quicken the process of getting volunteers to try out the Covid-19 vaccine is by giving them incentives such as "Get Paid to Volunteer Covid" for the experiment to succeed. The faster you enroll in these trials, the quicker a vaccine will be produced in the market for the benefit of all.

While the rest of the population is worrying about how to not get infected with this deadly disease, some researchers claim that people can get paid to get Coronavirus. This "pay for risk" approach sparked debates over whether this approach is ethical.

According to some companies, the advantage of getting paid to volunteer Covid is people are choosing to take it on voluntarily. As long as researchers are accurate in conveying the risks and benefits of Covid-19 vaccine research to the candidate vaccines, it is up to them to judge whether they are worth the payment.

Without these volunteers who are willing to risk their life and get paid to get Coronavirus, there will be no vaccine for anyone.

Which Companies Offers Compensation to Get Paid to Get Coronavirus?

These are the leading companies that offer volunteers a compensation for their efforts:

• Moderna Therapeutics (United States)

  Moderna is a company whose technology has allowed what's being called the fastest start-up of a vaccine trial ever. CEO Stéphane Bancel claims that its vaccine is 94.5% effective at preventing Covid-19. As of October 20, 30,000 participants enrolled in the Covid-19 vaccine research.

• Pfizer - BioNtech (New York - Germany)

  Dr. Albert Bourla serves as the Chairman and CEO of this American pharmaceutical corporation. The two firms are the first company that announced their vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19. The late-stage vaccine trial in October sees 42,000 enrolments of volunteers.

• Open Orphan (Dublin)

  Open Orphan, co-founded and chaired by Cathal Friel, is a rapidly growing pharmaceutical company that has signed a contract with the UK government to speed up vaccine development. Their subsidiary, hVivo conducted the trial in London with 20,000 volunteers in the first few days.

• Imperial College NHS Trust (United Kingdom)

  The team from Imperial College NHS Trust urged healthy Londoners to help them find the Coronavirus vaccine. The group carried out the study with other researchers and tested over 150,000 people in the UK. Professor Tim Orchard is the Trust’s Chief Executive.

Latest Development of the Covid-19 Vaccine

Under normal circumstances, vaccines take many years for research and develop to take place. This isn’t the case for Covid-19 because this deadly virus has brought the world to a halt. As of December 12th 2020, there are 69.8 million cases recorded worldwide with 1.59 million deaths.

Since the beginning, pharmaceutical companies jumped to the rescue with major investments in vaccine and development. As of now, Pfizer and Moderna leads the pack in getting their vaccines authorized for mass usage.

Other companies who are in the frontrunners to produce the next successful vaccine include:

• Oxford University/AstraZeneca (United Kingdom)
• Sinovac (China)
• Sinopharm (China)
• CanSino Biologics (China)

The Covid-19 vaccine trials proved to be useful thanks to these companies’ who were swift in getting volunteers to take part in the trials. With the get paid to volunteer Covid approach, the vaccine's development has been lightning-fast.

How Do I Apply as A Candidate Vaccine?

As a candidate vaccine that gets paid to volunteer Covid, there are several rules to abide by.

You would have to be young and healthy, new to trials, and have no chronic health problems. Once you apply as one, you will be monitored closely and quarantined to see if you get infected and develop symptoms. You will also have to follow a restricted diet and give up exercise.

How Much Will I Get Paid to Volunteer as a Candidate Vaccine?

You will be compensated for your time as part of the Covid-19 vaccine human trials. As to how much will you get paid, it varies. Some companies are offering a few hundred dollars while some others are giving thousands.

Take Moderna, for example. They are paying $100 per visit and will sum up to about $1,000 if you complete the trial. On the other hand, Pfizer pays volunteers $120 for each of the six doctor's visits.

So, Are You Up to Get Paid to Get Coronavirus?

Assuming such method is ethical, how much money would it take for you to be infected with Coronavirus in the name of science? And do you think that you ought to be paid for the risk involved?

With the growing number of volunteers who are looking to get paid to volunteer Covid it is crucial that they are fairly compensated for the part they are playing in medical research.

Given the need to fight Covid-19, companies are making extraordinary efforts to speed up their development timeline. The question of whether the "pay for risk" methods will work or not remains debatable. But with incentives such as get paid to get Coronavirus for human trials to take place, the road to deploying an effective vaccine is just ahead of us.