Placebo-testing vaccines is unethical, ‘a waste of time and money,’ expert says
‘A little like making basketball players do tryouts before every game’
CHICAGO --- Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr.’s proposal to require that all new vaccines undergo safety testing in placebo-controlled trials “is ethically problematic and will slow testing down for no good reason,” said Seema Shah, professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and the director of research ethics at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.
“Requiring placebos for all vaccine trials is a little like making basketball players do tryouts before every game — a waste of everyone’s time and money," Shah said.
Shah focuses on the question of when it is ethically and legally acceptable to expose some people to risk to benefit others. Her research has analyzed this question in pediatric, infectious disease and global health research.
Professor Shah is available for interviews with the media. Contact Kristin Samuelson to schedule an interview.
When using placebo becomes unethical
“If we have vaccines or treatments that work, it’s wrong to give some research participants nothing,” Shah said. “There are some exceptions, such as if there is an important scientific reason. For example, some trials of pain medication use placebos because there is a high placebo response — in other words, people tend to feel better even if they get a sugar pill. Another exception is when it’s not too risky to give people nothing (like testing a new medicine for seasonal allergies).
“But for many diseases, scientists already know how to measure if the vaccine is giving the immune system the information it needs to fight the disease, and there is no need to use a placebo injection.
“A blanket rule to use placebos will force scientists to treat people unethically. It seems like another way to gum up the works so fewer people will be protected against infectious diseases in the future.”