Macaque monkey trial offers hope
Copyright: BBC
A vaccine against coronavirus appears to have provided protection against the disease Covid-19 in six rhesus macaque monkeys.
In a trial in the US, involving researchers from the US government’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the University of Oxford, the animals were given the vaccine before being exposed to SARS-CoV-2.
The trial then found that the monkeys had less of the virus in their lungs and airways compared to a control group of monkeys which was not given the vaccine.
Rhesus macaques have similar immune systems to humans and the vaccine is now undergoing human clinical trials.
