UK and US scientists have conducted tests of a COVID-19 vaccine and found that it can successfully prevent the development of pneumonia in rhesus macaques, a type of monkey, research published on the bioRxiv portal revealed on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th May, 2020) UK and US scientists have conducted tests of a COVID-19 vaccine and found that it can successfully prevent the development of pneumonia in rhesus macaques, a type of monkey, research published on the bioRxiv portal revealed on Thursday.
"A single vaccination with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 induced a humoral and cellular immune response in rhesus macaques. We observed a significantly reduced viral load in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and respiratory tract tissue of vaccinated animals challenged with SARS-CoV-2 compared with control animals, and no pneumonia was observed in vaccinated rhesus macaques. Importantly, no evidence of immune-enhanced disease following viral challenge in vaccinated animals was observed," the research results read.
Scientists said that the vaccine had already previously been tested on mice. During the study on rhesus macaques, the vaccine was administered to six primates experiencing a full set of COVID-19 symptoms, and then the scientists had to wait until antibodies developed in the animals, which took from 14 to 28 days. Afterward, the researchers attempted to infect the macaques with coronavirus.
Seven days after the animals were injected with the virus, the scientists found that the vaccine had completely protected the monkeys from the virus entering their lungs, and none of them developed lung pathology or viral pneumonia.
According to the research, these vaccine tests allowed scientists to begin the first phase of clinical trials on April 23, and more than 1,000 volunteers have taken part as of May 13.
