Table 2.

Five main themes and related sub-themes identified during qualitative analysis

Themes	Sub-themes
Rapidly evolving research ethics landscape	Risk to benefit analysis as a moving target Placebo use in ongoing vaccine research Standard of care Post-trial access Social value
Extreme vulnerability of research participants	Individual and population vulnerability COVID-19 stigmatisation and prejudice Therapeutic misconception
Unique challenges to informed consent	Impact of fear and isolation on individual autonomy Challenges ‘on the ground’ Divergent views on consent waivers
Challenges to community engagement during COVID-19	RECs own role in community engagement The ‘who, when and how’ of community engagement during a pandemic
Overlapping research ethics and public health equity issues	Inequitable burden of research Equity in research agendas Inequities in access