Wellbeing

Monkeys, ferrets offer clues in COVID-19 vaccine race

The global race for a COVID-19 vaccine boils down to some critical questions: How much must the shots rev up someone’s immune system to really work? And could revving it the wrong way cause harm?

migrator

Chennai

Even as companies recruit tens of thousands of people for larger vaccine studies this summer, behind the scenes scientists still are testing ferrets, monkeys and other animals in hopes of clues to those basic questions — steps that in a pre-pandemic era would have been finished first. “We are in essence doing a great experiment,” said Ralph Baric, a coronavirus expert at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, whose lab is testing several vaccine candidates in animals.


Associated Press

Visit news.dtnext.in to explore our interactive epaper!

Download the DT Next app for more exciting features!

Click here for iOS

Click here for Android

Also Read

TN has emerged as India's top-performing state: Udhayanidhi Stalin

Cheque bounce case: MDMK MLA Sadhan Thirumalaikumar gets 2-y jail

Satyabrata Sahoo new Sports secretary

SIT formed to probe Tripura student’s death, police say no evidence so far of racial abuse

KTS valedictory function: No evil force can divide country, says CPR