Study says Monkeys Developed Antibodies for the New Coronavirus

Miss Chis

So far, there are more than a hundred potential vaccines that are being researched. One of these vaccines is Remdesivir has already begun human trials. But, on its first tests, the drug was found ineffective on humans.

However, some other vaccines were still under trial and have undergone testings with animals.

Based on an article from ABS-CBN, there are two studies on monkeys published on Monday hoping to aid the development of human immunity to the virus.

The study focused on an experimental prototype vaccine and whether it provides immunity to re-exposure to COVID-19. This question serves critical as the world recorded over 5 million cases worldwide.

Based on the study, it was conducted on Rhesus macaque monkeys. The research was done to see whether the monkeys develop immunity from the natural infection or from the vaccine.

Senior author of the study, Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center in Boston explained:

In these two studies, we demonstrate in rhesus macaques that prototype vaccines protected against SARS-CoV-2 infection and that SARS-CoV-2 infection protected against re-exposure.

In one of the studies, Barouch and his team infected nine adult rhesus macaque monkeys with the virus. The monkeys developed symptoms of the new coronavirus but later developed protective antibodies.

Afterward, they re-exposed the monkeys to the virus after 35 days to test their immunity. As such, the researchers called the experiment the “re-challenge”. Following this, the re-exposed monkeys showed little to no symptoms.

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