The Problem with COVID-19 Clinical Trials

 I know a lot of us are anticipating the release of a vaccine that will combat COVID-19 safely and effectively but there are certainly issues when it comes to the clinical trials for the vaccine. One of these issues being racial disparities. It is known that minority groups in the United States are affected by COVID-19 disproportionately at higher rates however, it is unknown if it is a result of direct biological factors (Chastin et al., 2020). Therefore, it is important to understand the lack of representation of minority and ethnic groups in these COVID-19 therapeutic studies.

 A study was conducted by Borno et al.,(2020) and was done to evaluate the racial and ethical disparities in COVID-19 clinical studies. This study observed the race and ethnicity of the participants in published COVID-19 clinical trials related to treatment in the United States. What this study found was Black participants were underrepresented consistently across the clinical research studies observed. Another paper that also examined the underrepresentation of racial and ethnic minority groups found that minority groups such as Latinx, Black, and Native Americans that were overrepresented in COVID-19 related cases were underrepresented in clinical studies (Chastain et al., 2020).

In the paper by Chastain et al., (2020), they also suggest that the cause of this lack of diversity within these COVID-19 clinical trials is from hidden costs and less diversity with the principal investigators of these clinical trials. These barriers that lead to the lack of representation of marginalized groups displays injustice because it could promote the widening of the treatment gap for COVID-19. This is why in terms of the principle of justice, racial and ethical groups that are already at a higher risk should be incorporated in COVID-19 clinical trials.

Borno, H., Zhang, S., & Gomez, S. (2020, July 30). COVID-19 disparities: An urgent call for race reporting and representation in clinical research. Retrieved November 14, 2020, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451865420301149

Chastain, D., Al., E., Author AffiliationsFrom the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy (D.B.C., J. H. Beigel and Others, J. D. Goldman and Others, & Ashina, M. (2020, November 06). Racial Disproportionality in Covid Clinical Trials: NEJM. Retrieved November 14, 2020, from https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2021971