China conducts successful coronavirus vaccine test on monkeys

Even as efforts are on to develop an effective vaccine against the deadly coronavirus, which has infected and claims millions of lives worldwide, China is believed to have successfully conducted the first coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine test on animals.

According to reports, China has developed a coronavirus vaccine - PiCoVacc - which has proven very effective in monkeys. The vaccine – PiCoVacc – has been developed by Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech.

The researchers at Sinovac Biotech used a very typical method to prevent the virus from infecting life forms- putting a crippled virus into an animal's body, forcing its immune system to produce antibodies. The antibodies will also kill normal viruses.\

The researchers injected the vaccine into rhesus macaques, a kind of monkey originating in India, and then exposed the monkeys to the novel coronavirus three weeks later.

A week later, the monkeys that took the largest doses of the vaccine did not have the virus in their lungs, meaning that the vaccine worked. Meanwhile, the monkeys that didn't get PiCoVacc caught the virus and developed severe pneumonia.

The vaccine has been undergoing human tests in China since mid-April.

 

Dhaka/Mukul