Majority shuns health risks in search for COVID-19 vaccine
The majority of the UK public (64%) agree that regulators should be able to relax requirements to speed up vaccine and medicine development to find a treatment for COVID-19 – despite 55% acknowledging that some patients could die from side effects.
These were among the findings of a survey commissioned by the life sciences practice of Liverpool and Manchester law firm Hill Dickinson.
The urgent need for new medical interventions to help treat COVID-19 means regulators are adopting temporary measures to accelerate approval processes.
The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), for example, has introduced fast-track approval routes for ventilators, PPE and COVID-19-testing kits, and has been expediting clinical trial applications for new treatments for COVID-19.
While there is no reason to believe that accelerated procedures impose lower safety standards, this survey set out to examine UK public perception of risk in the regulatory process, with the race on to find a successful vaccine.
More specifically, it sought to establish whether respondents recognised that changes to regulations designed to protect them, made during an emergency disease outbreak, could have potential safety implications.
Interestingly, the proportion of respondents that see the increasing health risk as acceptable, tends to increase with age – 48% of 18-24-year-olds were willing to risk the potential side-effects for more rapid testing, compared with 50% of those aged 65-74 and 63% of those aged 75+.
Similarly, 53% of 18-24-years-olds were willing to accept that some patients may die from unforeseen side effects, compared with 56% of 65-74-year-olds and 75% of those aged 75+.
James Lawford Davies, partner at Hill Dickinson, said: “The UK regulatory process has adapted very quickly in response to the pandemic, enabling rapid scientific advice, review and approval.
“For example, the MHRA approved the Oxford vaccine trial in just over a week.
“Prioritising COVID-19 assessments should not compromise the safety of trial participants or the thoroughness of the review, but it is interesting to see how the public perceive the balance of risk and benefit.”
More than three-quarters (79%) of the UK public expect that if a novel treatment goes through a shortened assessment and approval process in a time of emergency, such as a pandemic, it should be subject to more long-term monitoring than usual.
The survey also found that 59% agree that people have a good enough understanding of social distancing and basic hygiene to protect themselves and avoid the spread of infection, while only 20% disagree.
Geographically, respondents in London (54%) and Scotland (51%) were least likely to agree that social distancing and hygiene were understood. By contrast, the South West (68%) and North West (68%) saw the highest levels of agreement.
