By Tauren Dyson (NEWSMAX)
A human clinical trial with more than 1,000 volunteers could bring hope for a new coronavirus vaccine that recently cleared a hurdle with monkeys, according to the BBC.
Researchers from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and from the University of Oxford exposed six monkeys of the rhesus macaques species to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, commonly known as coronavirus. Then they vaccinated the animals with the trial drug.
The procedure left the vaccinated monkeys with less of the virus in their airways and lungs and protected them from developing pneumonia.
The vaccine also didn’t cause “immune-enhanced disease” in the monkeys, which is when the drug prompts a worse reaction to a disease.
While the study still needs to be reviewed by other scientists, Dr. Stephen Evans at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine called the work “high quality” and “very encouraging.”
Currently, more than 100 experimental coronavirus vaccines are in development.
