Covid Clinical Trial Consent Forms Were ‘Ridiculous’ Legal Tomes (1)

Somebody needs an editor. Volunteers in Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials waded through paperwork that was longer and more complex than necessary and included ancillary information, according to a study published Wednesday.

An evaluation of informed consent documents from vaccine trials by Pfizer Inc., Moderna Inc., Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, found these forms averaged more than 21 pages long and took about 35 minutes to read. The documents also required at least a high school reading comprehension level, even though multiple federal guidelines recommend a reading comprehension level of eighth grade or below.

The findings indicate pharma researchers ...