Vaccine fails to shield monkeys from virus

Vaccine fails to shield monkeys from virus

19/05/2020

Unusual, in that human beings were unlikely to be ordinarily exposed those quantities of the virus.

The researchers, led by Sarah Gilbert of The Jenner Institute, University of Oxford and Vincent Munster of the National Institutes of Health, United States, argue that the presence of virus was significantly reduced in BAL fluid (collected from the lungs) and lung tissue of vaccinated animals than in the animals that were not vaccinated.

Moreover, virus specific neutralising antibodies were detected in those macaques vaccinated and no such antibodies were seen in those that didn't get the vaccine.

For their analysis they vaccinated six monkeys with the candidate vaccine and 3 were given a ‘control’ vaccine called ChAdOx1 GFP.

Based on these results 1,110 people are taking part in human trial, half receiving the vaccine and the other half (the control group) receiving a meningitis vaccine. The dose of the vaccine was half that of what is being used for humans right now.

This vaccine is among the eight that are ahead in terms of being tested in humans for efficacy.