The race to make a COVID-19 vaccine is under way and the UK is preparing human challenge trials in a bid to speed up the process. 

Challenge trials are where volunteers are injected with a potential vaccine and then exposed to low doses of the virus.

It is being backed by the UK government which has had to weigh up the ethical debate of trials when there is no cure or effective treatment for the coronavirus.

The state will invest $43 million, starting in January, to back human challenge trials undertaken by Imperial College London, hVIVO and the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.

Chief Scientific Officer at hVIVO Andrew Catchpole said that efforts have been made to reduce the risks as much as possible.

"We will only use the minimum amount to cause an infection, not the disease symptoms," he said.

There will be 90 volunteers below the age of 30 taking part - the risk of dying from COVID-19 for the 20-29 year age group is said to be similar to being killed in a car crash.

Globally 39,000 young people have already offered to be part of a human challenge trial.

Abie Rohrig is part of a group called "1Day Sooner" which is lobbying for human challenge trials to take place in the U.S. as well. 

Rohrig believes the risk is acceptable because of the global health benefit of speeding up vaccine development. 

"Getting a vaccine, even one day sooner, could save thousands of lives."

Human challenge trials have already been used for influenza, malaria, typhoid, dengue fever, and cholera.

READ MORE: The long history of challenge trials

Julian Savulescu, an Oxford University ethics professor believes the risk is worth taking.

For a trial to be ethical, he said, the risks have to be reasonable and volunteers fully informed of all the risks, including the threat of getting COVID-19.

"Large clinical trials often take many months, typically they run over six months to recruit a sufficient number of people, who naturally become infected," he said.

"But by strategically infecting 100 people you can quickly get results within a month, rather than six months.

"In my view, not only are these trials permissible, they are ethically obligatory in a pandemic."

As an extra precaution volunteers will be given antiviral drugs to reduce their risk of developing severe symptoms.

Would-be volunteer for the human challenge, Alastair Fraser-Urquhart, wants to do his bit to find a vaccine.

"Personally, I can't let this opportunity to do something pass me by when I'm at such low risk compared with other people," he said.

Danica Marcos agreed: "Even if it means I will be sitting in a bed not feeling too well, I think it's worth it."

The participants will be closely monitored in hospital in a secure facility for more than a month. All the volunteers will be paid.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has called for a bio-ethics committee to investigate how the trial will be run.

It is unlikely to be a one-off trial - hVIVO's Catchpole added that even if a vaccine is found there will likely be further trials to test new vaccines.