First COVID-19 vaccine test on animals successful

First COVID-19 vaccine test on animals successful

A coronavirus vaccine developed in China has been proven effective in monkeys. PiCoVacc, a vaccine made by Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech, used a very typical method to prevent the virus from infecting life forms: Putting a crippled virus into an animal's body, forcing its immune system to produce antibodies. The antibodies will also kill normal viruses.

The researchers injected the vaccine into rhesus macaques, a kind of monkey originating in India, and then exposed the monkeys to the novel coronavirus three weeks later. Another week later, the monkeys that took the largest doses of the vaccine did not have the virus in their lungs, meaning that the vaccine worked.

Meanwhile, the monkeys that didn't get PiCoVacc caught the virus and developed severe pneumonia. The vaccine has been undergoing human tests in China since mid-April. PiCoVacc is not the only COVID-19 vaccine that carries the hope to end the pandemic that killed hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.

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