IT is the most unwelcome news of all to have contracted Covid-19, but throughout the pandemic there has been another story, of those who have put their bodies on the line to try to beat the virus.
The latest initiative (ukcovidchallenge.com), championed by the UK Government’s Vaccines Taskforce, Imperial College London, the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and clinical company hVIVO, will involve 90 volunteers being paid £4500 to contract the virus.
The volunteers will have a fifth of a millimetre of virus fluid dropped into their nose and be medically monitored. They will also have to undergo 17 days in quarantine.
Chief investigator doctor Chris Chiu, from the Department of Infectious Diseases at Imperial College London, said: “We are asking for volunteers aged between 18 and 30 to join this research endeavour to help us to understand how the virus infects people and how it passes so successfully between us. Our eventual aim is to quickly test which vaccines and treatments work best in beating this disease.”
Scientists identified early on that utilising the information they could glean from those who had recovered from Covid-19 could hold the answer to a cure, and politicians and health professionals have heavily-backed a blood plasma donation programme.
The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) has been calling for 350 people a week to donate convalescent plasma during lockdown to save lives.
Engineer Peter Hayward, 53, from Nairn was one such volunteer who is glad he has done his bit after seeing how it had helped his mother Odeen, 80, recover.
“Mum ended up in hospital for three weeks, on a ventilator at times. The doctor phoned and said he was looking at trying convalescent plasma on her – at that point he wasn’t holding out much hope, but he thought this was the best way of giving her a chance, so of course, we agreed.
“It was that phone call, and finding out people who had had Covid-19 could give convalescent plasma to help people who were very ill with Covid-19, that made me take an interest in donating myself. So 28 days after I recovered, I donated at Inverness Blood Donor Centre, and I’ll be back to give plasma again as soon as it’s time.
“Nobody wants to get coronavirus,’’ he said. ‘’I’ve had it, it’s real, and you do not want it. However, if you have had it, go and give convalescent plasma. Help the people who need it now.”
His mother is appealing too to those who can to help others recover like she did.
She said: “On the very first night I got there the doctor came down and told me that he thought I would benefit from this plasma and they put me on the drip straight away. I was quite ill that night and then the next morning but then I started to feel a lot better.
“I do think that I might not have made it out of hospital if it hadn’t been for that.’’
Volunteers should be aged between 17 and 65, or up to 67 if they regularly donate blood, and meet the usual eligibility requirements for donating blood.
Doctor Nicole Priddee, consultant haematologist at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, outlined the vital part blood plasma donations can play in the overall approach to Covid-19.
She said: “If you’re an adult who has recovered from Covid-19, it’s usually because your immune system developed anti-Covid antibodies. If you then donate your plasma, Scottish hospitals can use it in the fight against Covid-19.
“Right now, doctors across the UK are using convalescent plasma to treat patients in clinical trials, and the need is rapidly rising.’’
While those who have had Covid-19 are helping the fight against it, the SNBTS is also continuing to ensure Scotland’s overall blood supplies remain high during lockdown.
It is a challenge but the Donor and Transplant Services have reiterated that blood donors come under the category of essential travel as they called on the public to keep up the push.
Associate director for Donor and Transport Services, Lynne Willdigg, said: “Patients in Scotland still need help, particularly from new blood donors. At the start of lockdown we saw a surge in new donors attending, rising to over 12% of the donations we took in March; however, this has steadily decreased as lockdown relaxed.
“We’re reaching out to both existing donors and people who have never given blood before to look up our website, find out if there’s a session on, and book in to give blood – if not this week, next week, or the week after that.”
To donate blood visit scotblood.co.uk
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