What trial volunteers should expect at 'Covid camp'
Ahead of the world's first Covid-19 challenge trial, volunteers from flu trials say the main threat is one of sheer boredom
23 February 2021 • 11:03am
Sean Cousins, 30, has made more than £10,000 by taking part in medical trials in which he is deliberately infected with influenza. He hopes to be infected with Covid-19 in a trial later this year
Credit: Christopher Pledger
Sean Cousins was sitting with his laptop in his student bedroom in 2014 when he spotted a Facebook advert for a new medical trial marketing itself as “flu camp”. It was recruiting volunteers who were willing to be infected with a strain of influenza, to help scientists learn more about the virus. Keen for some time away from distractions to work on his final-year Japanese and Chinese thesis, he signed up.