One more week to see if Covid-19 vaccine works on monkeys
The result of blood samples taken from 13 monkeys who have been injected with different doses of Covid-19 mRNA vaccine will be available in a week, Dr Kiat Ruxrungtham, chief of Chula VRC (Chula Centre of Excellence in Vaccine Research and Development), said on Sunday (June 7).
He said three groups of monkeys had been vaccinated on May 23, and that their blood will be tested to see if the vaccine boosts immunity against the virus. He added that the research will be deemed successful if at least two samples show a boost in immunity. However, if the result is not satisfactory, then researchers will have to wait another four weeks before testing blood samples again.
“If the blood tests reveal good results, then we will order the production of about 10,000 doses and the prototype should be out in October. Then we will move to the next step and test the vaccine on volunteers,” Dr Kiat added.
