COVID-19
Macaque monkey trial offers hope to develop effective Coronavirus vaccine
A Coronavirus vaccine has provided protection and immunity against Covid-19 in six rhesus macaque monkeys, BBC reported on Friday.
The vaccine which is now undergoing human clinical trials gives early hope, however, there is no guarantee this result will translate to people.
The trial was conducted in the US, involving researchers from the US government’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Oxford University.
BBC wrote, “The animals who had been given the vaccine, and were then exposed to SARS-CoV-2, had less of the virus in their lungs and airways which was then compared with the control group of monkeys which was not given the vaccine.”
The vaccine appeared to protect the monkeys against developing pneumonia.
This comes as the Rhesus macaques have similar immune systems to humans which gives the vaccine results early hopes.
Dozens of vaccines are being developed to diagnose, prevent, and cure the Coronavirus, however, the WHO stated on Thursday that the Coronavirus may never go away.