A photo illustration showing vials of COVID-19 vaccine. (Real vaccines would probably have a whole lot more on the label.) | Photo illustration by Igor Golovniov / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
Vaccine trials have had a weird week. First, there was the exhilarating kickoff of two massive clinical trials for vaccines created by Moderna and Pfizer. Each company is hoping to recruit 30,000 volunteers to test whether its vaccine is effective and safe. This is normal.
What’s not normal is a bunch of researchers in Boston who have decided to test a DIY coronavirus vaccine on themselves. At least 20 people have mixed together the vaccine and sprayed it up their noses as part of what they’re calling the Rapid Deployment Vaccine Collaborative (Radvac), according to a truly wild MIT Technology Review story from editor Antonio Regalado.
Among the people testing the vaccine is Harvard University geneticist George Church. You may know him…