Young, healthy volunteers are being deliberately infected with the CCP virus in the first human challenge trial in the United Kingdom, with the aim of advancing research into effective vaccines and treatments for COVID-19. The trial will enable researchers to assess the smallest amount of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus needed to “cause infection and elicit an immune response” in the volunteers, so as to better understand the route of infection and the mode of transmission. The virus being used is the original strain “produced by” a team of scientists, according to the researchers. “We expect these studies to offer unique insights into how the virus works and help us understand which promising vaccines offer the best chance of preventing the infection,” Clive Dix, interim chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce, said in a February press release. The 90 volunteers—aged between 18 and 30 and who have been screened for potential health …